For more than a decade, a softball-sized piece of slag has decorated the hearth inside Bonnie Petry’s Spanish-style stucco home in San Bernardino. The so-called Old fire, which began on Oct. 21, 2003, destroyed hundreds of homes in its devastating march through San Bernardino County and caused an estimated $1.2 billion in damages. In many ways, the jagged substance left in the wake of that blaze also serves as a reminder for Petry to remain vigilant. Whipped by strong Santa Ana winds, the blaze quickly consumed 75 acres of dense, dry chaparral. “Historically, this is the week where a lot of the bad fires in modern San Bernardino history have begun,” said Zach Behrens, a spokesman for the San Bernardino National Forest.

Source: Los Angeles Times October 24, 2019 23:15 UTC