WinSol3 Über-EcoHome: Fire in the hole

Once again fire has gripped 7L. This is the third major fire in the last 10 years. All man made, all on the property. The first was from forestry slash piles after logging, the second was the 2001 WinSol2 burning, and now the storage shed and other minor structures. Perhaps there's an ancient curse somewhere close-by in the National Forest that used to be home to Maidu tribes. Then again, between all these fires on the east and south, and my thinning and burn piles on the West... there's nothing left to burn!

Storyline
I came home last nite after being gone for a few days, to my doors being wide open, and my thinking I'd been robbed. A sleepless nite - but for all the wrong reasons.
This morning i awoke to weird red stuff all over the deck - it looked liked it had rained red dust. After a few minutes, I turned south and saw the entire forest below burnt black, including the 1,000sf storage shed.

My neighbor noticed some smoke coming from down below, and thought that there's no way Fred would be doing a burn pile at this time of year (good to have such a reputation :-)... 10 minutes later he noticed flames. Two kids (who I know) on quads were on the other ridge and also noticed it. Two calls to 911... 20 minutes later ... 7 fire engines... multiple helicopter water drops ...several airplane retardant drops... later - it saved my house: WinSol3 I wonder what i would have done had I been here - totally freaked out or humbled?

The uphill raging fire (burned tree branches at 200+ feet up) stopped within inches of the main house... the plastic gutters on the greenhouse melted away (see pic below).

Timely neighbors (thank you Jack + Travis, ++), incredible reaction + coordination of the Amador + El Dorado Natural Resources (used to be called fire department) along with 7 engines, countless ground crew, multiple helicopter water and plane fire retardant drops kept the house from burning and limited the damage to around 1 acre.

'simulated' water drop

All remnants of any construction before 2002 has turned to ash. The storage shed, old deck, various stuff... all burned to the ground.

Personal note: It's interesting what an emotional and spiritual toll these events take on me. I had all these plans and projects to work on, and now all i can think of is gratitude and reaching out. My whole body + spirit feels like it's been drained + body kicked a few times - I've been there before. All things in life are transitional + temporary.

Gratitude

How can I ever repay all the hard work of the fire crew? What gratitude can i possbily give in thanks for all the state, county, equipment, personnel, etc. coordination that went into saving my house? In talking with the fire marshall, he said 'that's what we do, that's why we're here'. I know one thing for sure: I'll never bitch about 'controlled' and 'managed' burns, or about other fire fighting related issues. WinSol3 was one sudden windbreeze away from being a pile of ashes.
Until one has come face-to-face with such a disaster and benefited from these firefighters', pilots, truck drivers, etc capabilities can one really appreciate all their effort.
And a special thanks to Andrew for taking time out from his Supra rebuild biz, and getting ready for college days...to sooth my aching nerves: thanks buddy! And also to all my friends out there for your heart-felt emails + calls.