The Etiwanda Fire burned hot and fast near Rancho Cucamonga in April, 2014. It was one of my first Santa Ana wind-caused wildfires, causing some hurricane force wind gusts in excess of 100 mph. Here embers fly off burned trees at night, into my camera, nomex, and skin. Despite wearing fire resistant clothing, some holes were burned into my turnouts and part of my lens hood melted.

It was so windy aircraft were not able to fight the fire, and crews were limited to fighting the blaze with ground resources only. Despite thousands being evacuated in a crowded suburban area of Los Angeles County, no homes were lost. This was one of my first experiences with the WUI, or Wildland Urban Interface where the wildland meets human civilization, resulting in a clash of fire and smoke and firefighting.

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