It's hot: 95 F and expected to hit over 100. It's dry. It's windy. Perfect conditions for a fire. Or multiple fires.
The morning started out with a fire south of Ashland at the south end of the valley. At the last report it was around 50 acres and had burned one house.
But we were looking out our office window and saw this one start.
There is/was a power substation up there and we know that the power is out at some of the employee's houses as everyone is calling home to check. The unofficial word is that three or four houses have burned.
Often when there are multiple fires set this time of year it turns out to be the work of an arsonist. You can tell from the skies that there were no lightning strikes.
The above pictures were made around 3 p.m. Here's an update from around 4:20.
The wind is picking up and the fire has jumped a good distance to the north.
