We recently examined how the 2025 spring after fire looked while hiking in Windsor, California’s Foothill Regional Park.
This park was the scene of a terrible firefight in October 2019.
The Kincade fire had ranged through the hills and met its match at this park.
(One of the most frightening photos I ever saw was of firefighters lining the freeway about a mile away. Had the Kincade fire jumped the highway, it would have gone all the way to the sea (30 miles away!)
While the park is near our home, we haven’t hiked there since the fires.
But last month, I needed to escape pressing concerns.
I needed to be out in nature and think about something else!
Blue sky, wild flowers, soaring and calling birds sparked joy in my heart. We heard croaking frogs and their splash into full ponds.
Perfect.
Other than all the blackened and gray trees.
What does Spring after fire look like?
Signs of both were everywhere around us.
We went to see the local wildflowers.
They were there.
But so were the twisted, mangled, blackened trees from fire six years ago.
They’re recovering.
It’s still startling to see the effects of fire on a landscape.
That day’s contrast between vivid, green, and yellow flower-dotted hillsides struck me repeatedly.
My husband waited patiently as I took many photos.
If you don’t know the reason for that contrast between a Spring after fire, it’s fascinating.
If you do, then you’re sad.
Why did the Kincade Fire roar through here and then stop?
For all you folks who don’t know how fire spreads, here’s the photo to help you see:
Fire likes to follow gullies and valleys. Wind gusts go uphill, particularly in narrow canyons. (So, if you’re running away from fire, go downhill).
Topography makes a huge difference.
Topography
The lay of the land also affects how fire behaves. As fire engulfs an area, it interacts with the surrounding terrain. When moving uphill, fire encounters less obstructed fuel. That allows it to burn continuously and reduce its confinement to a specific area. Additionally, the steepness of the slope aids in preheating the vegetation ahead, causing it to become more susceptible to combustion.
We climbed to the top of a steep hill and looked north, toward even taller hills and steeper valleys.
That was the way the fire came.
Foothill Park in the spring after fire is still a beautiful place. The twisted blackened wood adds contrast to the vivid greens.
It’s all a sign that life is harder to destroy than we may think.
For some plants, fire rejuvenates.
I can’t really say the same for a park, but it was a lovely day this spring.
And I forgot all about my cares while hiking the hills!
Well, no.
Meanwhile, a peace spring sounds like this:
Thoughts? Reactions? Lurker?