San Diego fires

wow.... just.... wow. I vaguely remember the 1970 Laguna fires (I was 6)... The sky was orange and the air stank (and those fires were way up in the hills, 40 miles from where I lived...) That fire burned more acres than this one has, so far, but the county also had many fewer people and the suburbs hadn't spread so far. (When I was born, in 1964, the county population was under a million; it's now over 3 million, and all those people have to live *somewhere* ...) I also lived in Orange County near where the 1993 fire happened, and have the very scary memory of watching it come up over the ridge about 1/2 mile from where I was living. Luckily the winds shifted, so evacuation was optional.

If anyone is wondering, my family members don't live anywhere near where the fires are, though I have one cousin who may have had to evacuate. And my brother, who is a public school teacher, obviously has a day off... (My bet is that he's gone surfing!) San Diego county is about 60 miles on each side, bigger than the state of Rhode Island. The fires are mostly in the remote and rural areas to the north and east of the city proper.

OTOH... though it appears that the California fires were started by humans (god damn that stupid hunter in San Diego County!), a burn like this will ultimately be good for the forests. A lot of the bark beetles and the trees they killed will be gone, and things should rejuvenate nicely.

fires update

I heard from my dad a little while ago. He's fine, but he did say my cousin had to evacuate. The retirement place where my dad lives has told everyone to stay inside with the windows closed because there is so much ash in the air. It's hot, so not very comfortable.