The well publicized California fire began right near our old home in La Crescenta CA. The entire neighborhood that we lived in was evacuated for 3 or 4 days. None of the homes were damaged, but the fire burned right down to the backyards of homes that were just a few houses from our house.
People refer to this time of year as "fire season" and say that if you live in the mountains of CA, it is the risk you take. Mountain views and the breathtaking city light views are seductive. I never get tired of looking at both, but living in fire areas, flood areas or hurricane areas, etc, definitely can be very risky, costly and put in peril the lives of those whose job it is to protect them. It is always a huge topic of discussion after every disaster. In the case of CA fires, it is also necessary for some plants to have a fire every few years. Their seed pods can only be opened by fire. This is just one of nature's jokes.
We feel lucky that we sold that house when we did. A few months after we sold the house, the market values in the area dropped almost 30% and now the evidence of being in a fire area will affect the value even more in a negative way. I doubt that the people who bought the house feel lucky.
Get some cupcakes and drop in on them!
Posted by: luftmensch | Thursday, 03 September 2009 at 02:59 PM