Angel Island is an isolated piece of heaven, nestled in The Bay between San Francisco, Tiburon, Berkeley and Oakland, California. In October 2008, a fierce fire threatened to destroy the forest, the national park, numerous historic sites and (possibly) the largest collection of Civil War-era wooden buildings. Luckily, the inferno was no match for the dedicated firefighters who stopped the blaze in its tracks and chased it into the ocean where it probably cooked a few crabs in the shell. During its violent uprising, the fire charred nearly all of the island’s national park area, but never tasted the 100+ year-old wooden buildings nor the ancient wood/metal rock crusher.

WEEK 1 : Saturday October 26, 2008

Slideshow and discussion of week 1 recovery:
Tap here for lo-rez (medium sized photos) slideshow
Tap here for hi-rez (large photos) slideshow

Wildfires are notorious for rebooting an ecosystem from the ground up: a good fire will replenish soil nutrients, recycle old timber and clear an overgrown area to make room for new sprouts. But, it’s rare to experience this magnificent cycle within commuting distance of San Francisco. Angel Island is one exhilarating ferry ride from downtown SF, as well as Oakland/Alameda and Tiburon too. So, I’ve decided to monitor the natural restoration process as it unfolds in this truly unique area and document it as the weeks, months and years go by. Check back here for regular updates and more photos and videos from the burn zone on Angel Island.

This is the front page of the Fire Photo Story; the URL is:

http://www.mollifire.com/fire-story/

Eventually I’ll figure out RSS feeds for the photos… Then, updates can be sent directly to your reader or email. In the meantime, just bookmark this page and check back about once a month.

And feel free to leave your thoughts/ideas in the comments sector!