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On August 19, 1997, grass fires swept through the northeast Bakersfield area where I worked. The fires were fueled by hot temperatures (100+ degrees Fahrenheit), high southerly winds (30+ miles per hour), and extremely dry grass (it hadn't rained for months).

A couple of months previous, I had taken some pictures of the area. I took similar pictures again a couple of days after the fire, and present the results here for comparison. These pictures were all taken from the top of a hill south of where I worked.

West, before	East, before	North, before
West, after	East, after	North, after

Finally, here's a panorama shot from the top of Ant Hill. The full image is 5392x464 pixels and is about 300k in size. This view was created from 13 individual shots. You can see my Land Rover Defender 90 in the middle of the view.