Wild Fires

Well, it's fire season again here in So Cal. At the last count today there are 15 fires burning in So Cal - another 5 that have been contained and 1 of those 15 was 2 seperate fires down in San Diego that merged and are now burning at least 12 miles wide. So far we are safe - there was one fire sorta close to us down in Ontario but that was some 15 miles away - I know that doesn't sound like far but it would have had to burn for a while to get to us and cross several freeways. The next closest one to us, Little Mountain Fire, is about 20 miles away. If you want to see a map of the fires google has one here.

The fires change the air and the sky though - the air is obviously very polluted to begin with but now it's filled with ash and smoke. What may look like cloud cover is actually huge walls of smoke in the sky. Everything has an orange or yellow glow to it - while that makes the sunrise look pretty cool - it is very eerie. And, even if you don't have to evacuate you may have lost electricity b/c the winds out here that were blowing 80 MPH which also kicks all the smoke and ash up right into your eyes, your nose, your throat making it hard to breathe at times.

In terms of numbers, there are between 400 and 600 square miles (I know that's a big range - different sources tell different numbers) - that's more than the size of NYC- burned to the ground, 1,200 homes up in smoke, and over 1.5 MILLION people evacuated. And unforutnately there is only one freeway available to get these folks out of San Diego (where the worst fire is and which has caused the most amount of damage - 805 houses destroyed and another 400 damaged in this fire alone). There are two main northbound freeways - the 5 and the 15. The 5 has been closed but you can still use the 15 - though there are 2 fires along that freeway as well. The main freeway leading East is the 8 and there are fires on either side of that freeway which makes traveling on it dangerous as well. Thankfully, in all of this, less than 10 people have died. But still, I can't imagine all the damage and the loss of one's home. It's not something that I would want to face - that anyone would want to face - but one that a lot of people around here are dealing with and struggling through. You make it - you put one foot in front of the other - and you do what you can. I guess.

It seems like when it rains it pours here - b/c once fire season has destroyed thousands of acres of forest, homes, and brush the rain comes and washing everything (literally) away. Only, right now, while the fires burn in the south and the west, there are flash flood warnings in the east. I don't know about you but I think I'd rather live somewhere that has hurricanes and tornadoes - those you can at least predict somewhat. Fires and earthquakes give no warning - one minute you're fine and the next your house is shaking or some sparks from the welders doing construction have started a huge fire. This is all just very crazy!