Molten Mount Looms Over Liquid Lake

Yesterday afternoon a wildfire started on the south margin of Lake Isabella in the southern Sierra Nevada Range of Kern County, CA. The Erskine Fire quickly evolved into a conflagration and firestorm which burned over a number of housing tracts charring 19,000 acres as of this posting and destroying betweeen 80-100 homes/structures and killing two local residents who were overrun during the initial or extended attack phase of this fire. This is yet the latest in a growing list of wildfires whose extreme behavior signal a change in the intensity of wildfire in California not only resulting from the ongoing drought but also more subtly but no less  significantly from climate change. A great many wonderful photographs and video sequences were captured of this event, but none come close to the magic contained in the images shot by photojournalist Michael Cuffe who combining his skills with being in the perfect location and setting what with the moon location and phase and all, created some surreally beautiful yet ominous images of this fire, the best in the photographic sequence being above. Photo courtesy of Michael Cuffe (all rights reserved).