so-cal is on fire. i'm sure a lot of you know that. we haven't been directly affected, other than smoke, but we are surrounded by mountains in flames. the smoke is turning the sky orange . . . or black, depending on where you're standing. for awhile we could see the flames on the hills surrounding us, even through the haze of smoke. it looks pretty spectacular at night - like the tops of our local mountains have become volcanoes.
nearly 300,000 acres. over 850 homes. 13 dead. this morning, before the old fire and the grand prix fire combined, the fire line across the san bernardino mountains was 15 miles. god knows what it is now.
cal state was threatened and is closed today and tomorrow. the ronald reagan library is threatened. my heart goes out to these people who have lost everything. radio stations i've listened to for years are silent. and we keep going to the back window to look at the fiery peaks of mountains that should have golden color from fall leaves not fire.
and the images of the homes destroyed are heartbreaking. where once were 4 walls and a roof there is now only ash. not even a skeleton of a house exists any more. one home had small portions of the wall framing the front door and nothing else.
if this fire came down from the mountains and managed to get into the middle of the city where we are now, i have no idea what we would do. we have 2 cats and a dog to worry about, no car, and no place to go. tomorrow we have the kids to worry about too since they'll be home from dad's.
it is highly unlikely the fire will hit our level. possible, but unlikely. even so, i warned my online groups that i have responsibilities with that i may have to go off-line and stay off-line without warning.
just like i don't understand computer virus makers, i will never understand arsonists. and i hope the ones that set the half dozen fires still burning with minimal containment 6 days later pay for this. people are dead, for many their homes and memories up in flames, and many will never recover.
why anyone would want to cause that kind of pain, i will never understand.