Monday, August 2, 2021

The Dixie Fire Aftermath - Phase Two - The Tour of Tobin

 Tobin was full of smoke.  On the morning of the 26th, I decided to take a walk, first around Mary's Tobin Heights zone, then up and around the White Cliffs of Tobin, and then down around the resort level.  It was so interesting where the fire crews had burned, where the retardant drops had been applied, and how the world accepted the fire crawling around in it.  This post will seem excessive, but it's a historical record for me; and I still have more!

Badly done, but hopefully helpful map that I made.  Dunedin is where I live, up the hill from the resort.  I am so impressed with how they surrounded our little island of village with a ring of fire-burn.

View of Uncle G's area from my house

Still in protect mode, but beginning to wrap up the main supply of hoses.

View from Bob and Sue's end of Dunedin.  All is safe

Our drinking water pump requires a generator and lots of gas, which we had to get somehow.

The cut fire line behind the water pump house and coming down towards Mary's.

The back-fire scorch starts just above Mary's garden.

The ledge just before the White Cliffs.  Bob calls it The Point because of the view afforded.

Mary's yard is safe.

Kim's home - Riverview - is safe.

This photo is a strange view.  The back-fire was burned just beyond the woodpile in the background.

The drinking water storage tanks survived being burned around.


This is the flat of the White Cliffs.  Lots of view available now that the brush is gone.

The Fire Line water tank

These old junk cars were up here when I first moved to Tobin, 23 years ago.  The tree the faller fell lies across the back of one of them.

The back-fire effects

They bombed this end of the White Cliffs hard when the fire jumped the canyon.  Jeffery was told this was the first spot fire across.

It's so eerie and other-wordly.


The east edge of the White Cliffs are pink

retardant fern


This extra large slash pile is at the edge of the White Cliffs looking down to the RR and river.

Pretty sterile, eh?

Our little cemetery is intact!!  Laura, Shay, Pup, and Jasmine thank the fire crews.


The drinking water tanks and the old Mercedes

Melted chrome amidst the scorched remnants

These strange wet places were all over the place.  I finally figured them out.  This one looks like the author's initials maybe......

The view of the Jackass Creek waterfall and "bowl"

I am continually fascinated by what the crews do, and what is left behind when they're done.


Hoses line the trail between the resort and the back-fire scorch 

The view from behind Kathy's down past the Uncle J's Flying Circus Truck to Hwy 70

The white places are like ghost-images of the trees that burned.


A zoom up to show details of the Jackass Creek 'bowl'.  A clear day will show it better.

We got a new propane generator so we wouldn't have to keep filling gas cans.

A view from the RR bridge

Mary's property is bordered by the RR tracks.  The back-fire and retardant drop happened just beyond the front line of trees.

Looking across to the Tobin Dump

The White Cliffs from their base.  See the pink?

The view ahead

Looking up the White Cliffs

This view shows Tobin Vista on the left, which definitely is where some fire crossed over to our side.  The little "beach" in the center used to be a thicket that you'd never get into.

Retardant stained RR ballast

Pink RR Tie

Looking back towards Tobin

The fire definitely climbed this hill in a raging inferno.

Sacred Waterfall got some scalding.

The view opposite of the Sacred Waterfall.  The big area of grass and the trees didn't burn!

The view up towards Indian Jim Campground, which was NOT burned.

One little smoker on the hillside.

Healdsburg Fire Department

The Rancho Adobe Fire Department is doing tree cutting to keep us safe

There they are, prepping to cut a huge leaning oak, which could fall onto our properties.

Monte Rio Fire Dept. also guards us.  There were too many different agencies to honor, cuz I don't even know them all, but golly are we glad to have every single one of them.

This endeth this post.  In the future, the posts won't be so photo-and-info-heavy, but they will show more of our world under the affects and colors of post-wildfire.  

I DID finally manage to take Jeffery OUT OF THE FIRE ZONE for two nights.  It was so relaxing to get to sit quietly, use a phone, use electricity freely, do our laundry, take HOT showers, breathe fresher air, and just be at ease for a while together.  Ahhh.  Back soon!

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for the post showing the aftermath of this horrendous event. Look forward to your future posts.

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  2. Better than I expected. Tobin looks a bit singed and scorched in some areas, but it looks like a lot of the trees survived total destruction. I'm glad for that. Cleared up a lot of brush, but saved your town. Can't get much better than that.

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  3. OMG, Dorothy. It must have been so frightening and now so sad and maybe even fascinating. I am so very grateful to know you and Jeffery are OK, resilient, and strong. Tobin is now an oasis of green amidst it all. If I can do anything to help, let me know and I'll be there. And if you want to get away for a little while, I welcome you to stay in my guest room and bath, have a beer or 2 on my porch, put your feet up and tell me your tales.

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