Could you do this?

We heard about this incident at work within days of it happening. We saw pictures and heard the story by the LA Times photographer who witnessed it. However, seeing the video makes it so damn real. If you're intersted, I know I was, I also put a link to the LA Times audio and pictures of the radio chatter between the fire crews from the same incident.

The YouTube video is of a burn over which is when a fire completely surrounds an unburned area and then by mother nature's wind or the wind of the fire storm itself blows the fire across the area. Take a look.



If that wasn't enough for you, try this link.

http://www.latimes.com/la-burnover-f,0,732907.flash?coll=la-home-center

Ashes, Smoke and Headaches

As many of you know by now all the SoCal bloggers are accounted for and okay. Interestingly we are all impacted to varying degrees by the fires because they are all around us. It's hard not to have so much focus on the fires when the very air you breathe is so horrible. The sooty air is a constant reminder of what everyone is going through. The fire that most likely was set by an arsonist is directly affecting thousands of people.

Thank you all for your kind words, thoughts and prayers. Please send some of those prayers out to Rowena. She reported in today that her sister-in-law's mother and grandmother lost their homes in San Diego. I can't even imagine it.

Thank God, and I do, most of us still have our homes but everyone living in Southern California will be affected for weeks to come by these fires. For one thing is the very air you are trying to breathe sucks. There's just no way to describe how sickening it is. The least of problems is like the horrendous headache I have that nothing I've taken or done for it seems to help. The worst of it is for the many people who have respiratory related illnesses or conditions. This ashy smoky air makes it very difficult for them to breathe. My nieces who both have pretty severe asthma are just miserable and exhausted from the strain and stress of trying to filter this garbage and breathe.

More people with respiratory problems needing help puts a greater strain on our already stressed emergency services. It's a vicious circle. Our local schools muddled through the day today, but have closed tomorrow hoping that winds and/or rain will come through and help clear some of this out. Never thought I'd be wishing for wind. Wouldn't you know today the air has been still as can be. Not a flutter of a breeze any where. Anyway we are all hoping it will be better on Monday for the kids to get back to school.

I've taken a page out Wendy's book and GG is out right now trying to buy us an air purifier. I've got my fingers crossed. My silver lining is that while Shmoo has a red and irritated throat his allergies haven't kicked up. Me with a headache from hell and Shmoo with an allergy flare up are a recipe for disaster.

I'm flouncing my irritated self into my room with a very large glass of ice water and my Anne Stuart book. Thank God for books. They're a great distraction even with a headache.

To our heros...

Hell Hath No Fury...

Between work and family my life is pretty consumed by the fires raging throughout Southern California. I have two nephews and my brother who are fire fighters and then, of course, my current job is admin support for a fire department. While obvious things like inspections, filing, and record keeping of the department must go on everyone is checking their emails for the agency bulletins and updates we receive about 4 times a day.

The updates let us know how big the fires are how many different agencies and people are involved, weather conditions at each fire, what major road closures might be involved...stuff like that. Reading the number of structures that have already been lost is unreal.

Where I live we can see the fire burning and it feels like you can reach out and touch it. Fortunately for us the wind has been blowing the smoke and ash away from us. Late this afternoon was the first time I felt that oily ashy charcoal taste in my mouth.

Seeing the dedication and concern of the people who fight fires for a living is pretty incredible. While our department has already sent out assistance (people and equipment) to the state and county agencies fighting the fires, we still have to have stations staffed with crews to take care of the every day calls here at home. There's no grand standing or excitement or adrenalin induced fevers here. It is a grim and silent place while people prepare for worst case scenarios and to relieve crews that are already out at fires.

I cannot remember when so many fires so close together have been burning at the same time. To realize that arson is involved is just unfathomable really. 346,000 homes were evacuated Sunday and Monday in the San Diego area. 346,000...more than a quarter of a million homes. It makes me livid thinking someone set that fire on purpose. All those people...all those homes. The NPR article I linked to above is reporting 1200 homes lost in San Diego area alone.

Hell has to have a special place for arsonists. How do you forgive someone who deliberately set a fire that destroyed your home? Your neighborhood? Your community?