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Theo\u2019s View\u2026 Notes From the Wild Side of the Urban Interface<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.17.1″ background_color=”RGBA(255,255,255,0)” transparent_background=”on” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ use_custom_gutter=”on” gutter_width=”2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” width=”91%” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.17.1″ _module_preset=”default” header_4_text_color=”#6B6B6B” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
\u201cAlmost like clockwork\u2026 I can count on it every 10 years,\u201d Theo says, sounding philosophical. He\u2019s referring to the wildfires that have forced him to evacuate his mountain home in Altadena four times since 1979. He moved out for three days for the Station Fire, and another three or four more recently. Theo Clarke, retired physicist and old friend who lives on 16 wild acres of a private inholding in the Angeles National Forest, is talking to AH News for our Wildfire Issue. He worked at JPL for 27 years, plays the violin, and appreciates every morning waking up to views spanning from Owen Brown\u2019s gravesite, to Altadena, Pasadena and beyond \u2014 all the way to the Pacific on clear days.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/altadenaheritage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/theo-portrait-1.jpg” title_text=”theo-portrait” show_in_lightbox=”on” _builder_version=”4.17.1″ _module_preset=”default” module_alignment=”center” custom_padding=”11px||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ transparent_background=”off” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ use_custom_gutter=”on” gutter_width=”2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” width=”91%” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.17.1″ _module_preset=”default” header_4_text_color=”#6B6B6B” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
His rustic home sits at the end of the road on a shelf directly above La Vina, 272 homes built in the 1990s. Twenty-five years of landscape growth have softened and improved his down hill view, jarred for years by the shock of this development. His property includes land homesteaded in the 1880s by Owen and Jason Brown, sons of \u201cJohn Brown the Liberator\u201d of Harpers Ferry fame. Near the end of his driveway, the Brown\u2019s long-gone cabin site is marked by a 1953 half-buried Plymouth, now sprouting with greenery and melding into the landscape.<\/p>\n
This is fire country, and Theo is fortunate that his home has never burned. \u201cI was convinced it was GONE the time before last, it was terrifying,\u201d he said, referring to the 2009 Station Fire, when he watched from the bridge by Devil\u2019s Gate Dam as helicopters swarming like bees dumped flame retardant (\u201cred stuff\u201d) on his property to protect it.<\/p>\n
Theo\u2019s place was used as staging area and field headquarters in that fire \u2014 several engines parked there as firefighters quenched hotspots with water drawn from a nearby reservoir. \u201cI found out two years later what saved it, when a fire captain brought his crew up to show them the site,\u201d he says. The captain described a discussion in which several firefighters opined that abandoning the site was the best option. \u201cBut if they let my place burn, nothing could stop the fire from racing down the half-mile slope to La Vina and wiping it out.\u201d So instead, Theo explained, \u201cthey lit a fire to burn down the hill directly west of my place to create a firebreak. That fire burned west, reaching up the north side of Little Round Top. When the Station Fire approached from the north and west across El Prieto Canyon, there was nothing left to burn on the hillside next to his house and it survived.<\/p>\n
To be on the site on this day \u2014 a cool, misty April afternoon with surrounding hills cloaked in shades of green \u2014 the horror of that close call is difficult to conjure. A few hikers amble by, visible through Theo\u2019s living room window on the trail crossing his property. It is perhaps 20 feet from his home, atop the downslope where the intentional fire had been set to consume vegetation before it could feed the giant conflagration heading his way. Theo likes hikers: \u201cThey are my neighbors and my friends. In my experience they are good people, they have never bothered me. Just don\u2019t park up here and we\u2019re fine!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Getting lost with a friend on a moonlit hike in 1977 first led him to this idyllic spot, which a month or so later he learned was for sale. He put $1000 down, lived on the property and paid rent in the year it took to finalize the sale. Theo has enjoyed good relations with hikers ever since, and has been a great supporter of restoring Owen Brown\u2019s gravesite \u2014 on property adjacent to his.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.17.1″ _module_preset=”default” header_4_text_color=”#6B6B6B” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Though Theo\u2019s house was saved, several of his 16 acres burned in the Station Fire. About 20 Altadena Heritage members might remember seeing a miracle of nature in Spring, 2010, when he hosted a program on fire safety and a hike through head-and-shoulder-high yellow and purple blooms of \u201cfire followers.\u201d Pyrogenic flowering is defined as \u201cthe fire-adapted trait of an increase or a peak in flowering after a fire event,\u201d that allows plants to persist in fire-prone environments (such as our foothills.) The program was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; most burned areas within Angeles National Forest were closed for a few years and we wouldn\u2019t have experienced this phenomenon were we not invited to witness it on private land.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/altadenaheritage.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/52-Plymourh.jpg” title_text=”52-Plymourh” _builder_version=”4.17.1″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”22px||11px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.17.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
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The temporary increase in size and rate of flowering in May, 2010, was astonishing! Theo generously shared the bounty of flowers with his fellow Altadena Heritage members, and the Altadena Fire Department sent a representative to school us on safety measures such as creating a \u201c<\/span>defensible area\u2019 around homes. This includes removing trees planted in very close proximity to your house. He described cypress trees within a foot of a structure as akin to <\/span>\u201chaving roman candles next to your house\u201d if they catch fire. <\/span><\/p>\n Theo lives on happily in his fire-prone environment. Post-retirement he travelled the world for years, became an ordained Science of Mind minister, and mounted \u201cposter papers\u201d on JPL\u2019s JUNO project to Jupiter at science conferences. Today he mostly stays closer to home, keeping an eye on the mountains and enjoying his views. He ventures out for shopping and weekly violin lessons, and we\u2019re talking about a hike to Owen Brown\u2019s restored gravesite, which he hasn\u2019t yet seen \u2014 but wants to.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Theo\u2019s View\u2026 Notes From the Wild Side of the Urban InterfaceBy Michele Zack \u201cAlmost like clockwork\u2026 I can count on it every 10 years,\u201d Theo says, sounding philosophical. He\u2019s referring to the wildfires that have forced him to evacuate his mountain home in Altadena four times since 1979. He moved out for three days for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6698,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsletter-2022-spring-summer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/altadenaheritage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/altadenaheritage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/altadenaheritage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altadenaheritage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altadenaheritage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6695"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/altadenaheritage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6780,"href":"https:\/\/altadenaheritage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6695\/revisions\/6780"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altadenaheritage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/altadenaheritage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altadenaheritage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altadenaheritage.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}