Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

I was hoping we wouldn't get a bunch of smoke this year, but by Mid-September the Mosquito Fire had broken out near Forest Hill (Around 20 miles away as the crow fly's). This sent a lot of smoke into our area, particularly in the morning when the smoke would settle toward the ground. I the afternoon the wind would tend to drive the smoke away and gave me a view of where the fire was raging. The photos below some of the shots from my backyard looking towards the fire. It was hot outside so some of the telephoto images show a lot of atmospheric distortion when looking though 20miles of air near the ground. The fire has currently burned more than 76,000 acres and destroyed 78 structures. The recent rain this weekend has helped get rid of the smoke and slowed the growth of the fire.

The first 2 shots are panoramic/composite shots (I had to compress these a bit to fit into the 20meg limit)
Full versions can be seen on a website I recently set up at
https://ballardbare.smugmug.com/
(Note: If you zoom in on these images It may take a while for the full resolution image to load It may take multiple seconds to load as the largest image is around 90 meg). The "buy photo" icon is a print service offered by the web server provider, which I have never tried. You can download any of the images for free.

All questions comments and suggestions are welcome.

Last year I posted some shots of the Bear River fire which was much much closer and has more detail.
For those interested See
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-706741-1.html

This pano shows the extent of the fire running along the ridges from right to left. (multiple 115mm shots).

(Download)

This pano shows a closeup of the main part of the fire near Forest Hill 20 miles away. (multiple 500 mm shots).

(Download)

1000mm shot (cropped) of one of the tanker planes flying over my house on the way to the fire.

(Download)

1000mm shot of one of the tankers starting its retardant drop run (at 20 miles the distortion becomes apparent).

(Download)

1000mm shot showing the retardant drop.

(Download)

1000mm shot showing the end of this retardant drop.

(Download)

500mm nighttime shot of the active fire area.

(Download)

tradio Loc: Oxford, Ohio

Nice shots.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Warhorse Loc: SE Michigan

nimbushopper Loc: Tampa, FL

Nice action shots!

turp77 Loc: Connecticut, Plainfield

Thanks for the pictures. Glad you are safe. I have a lot of relatives in Foresthill all safe also only one home lost

RonDavis Loc: Chicago, IL

These are beautiful images of a dramatic circumstance, evoking mixed emotions.
(BTW, there is a Snugmug gallery setting that will allow you to turn off the “shopping cart” so it won’t appear on the viewing screen)
Stay safe

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi tradio
Thanks for checking out the images of the Mosquito Fire and for the comment.

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi tradio
Thanks for viewing the images of the Mosquito Fire and for the smiley face.

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi Warhorse
Thanks for checking out the images of the Mosquito Fire and for the Thumbs up.

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi nimbushopper
Thanks for checking out the images of the Mosquito Fire and for the comment. The plane's dropping retardant was interesting. Being so far away they did come out as sharp as the shots a little over a year ago on the Bear River fire.

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi turp77
Thanks for viewing the photos of the Mosquito Fire and the comment. In Grass Valley we only suffer from the smoke of this fire, the Bear River fire was a last year was a lot closer. Sorry to hear that one of your relatives lost a home because of it. Over the past couple of years I have been moving the dense vegetation farther from my house to help minimize the chances.

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi RonDavis
Thanks for viewing the images of the Mosquito fire, for the Thumbs up and for the comment. Indeed these columns of smoke are dramatic and the fire very destructive. Thanks for the info on smugmug, I found the setting and turned it off on the galleries I have set up (This is still a work in progress and I have started to add some written content to some of the photos.

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

Excellent shots of a sad situation!

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi UTMike
Thanks for viewing the images of the Mosquito Fire and the comment. Indeed, a sad situation.