Description

A crescent moon rises over the exploding Lake Fire at Dusk in the San Bernardino National Forest, 2015. I was on an assignment for Mashable in Death Valley when the fire started. It was 100 acres as I lost cell reception, and when I got internet the next morning, the fire was 5,000 acres and tearing up the forest. I raced from the 115 degree desert to the mountains, driving 4 hours through Mojave desert backroads to the column of smoke I could see 150 miles away. As I drew closer and came up the mountain, I ended up in the Heart Bar Campground meadow, just in time for the June sunset to reveal the moon amidst the smoke and extreme fire activity in the thicket of pine across the meadow from me. Even from a ¼ mile away in fire resistant nomex, the radiant heat from the fire forced me to retreat after a few minutes of making images, the energy release from the dense trees was so great. 7360 × 4912 pixels