It wasn't my intention to blog again so soon... I've been spending alot of time here since I got back (checking the scene) and I need to put time back into real-life stuff. I wanted to let my last light-hearted post stand for awhile. I came back into some pretty serious stuff and I wanted to chill a bit. But I live in California... Orange County specifically and as you know, SoCal is engulfed in a series of firestorms. I wanted to share a few thoughts...
Hell Comes To SoCal
I sat on my roof tonight at sunset, smoking a bowl. I live on the northeast coast of the OC, back a couple miles from the beach, well away from the fires. But I could see the firelines surrounding OC, smoke billowing from Malibu and from San Diego. The skyline is an eerie orange color and the air grits in your mouth... the smoke hovers like a toxic fog. And the conclusion was inescapable... SoCal is in a general state of apocalypse.
I had felt it coming. Saturday was the begining of our "Santana" (Devil Winds) Condition... the wind was calm, but I could tell. When I woke up Sunday morning I could feel there was a fire somewhere (in Malibu). By day's end there were about 12 running fires... tonight I count 18 major firestorms ranging throughout SoCal from Ventura to San Diego, thousands of homes have been destroyed and over 1,000,000 people are homeless or evacuated.
I have friends who have been affected by this... either lost homes or evacuated. My bff "Rachel" right now is watching the flames encroach on her home from two sides. She has her essentials packed... her aunt (and housemate) has her horse trailer hooked up, ready to evacuate her horses. Yesterday she went to San Diego County to help evacuate horses there... yay Myrna, you rock!
Been off work for a few days so I've been acting as a communication center for my "tribal" network directing refugee friends to places to stay, or safe campgrounds to meet at and directing bringing in food, water and other essentials.
The winds have died down for now, but the fires rage on. I've seen some knarley fires in SoCal but these are the worst firestorms I've seen here... ever. Usually fires burn as a front, but fires as firestorms (large swaths of raging flames) are rare. But almost all these fires are firestorms, marching through the countryside like an unholy army of fire-demons, devouring everything in it's path, purging the land of all life.
I have a fascination with fire, but it's radiant and hypnotic beauty are tempered now with the evidences if it's awesome, destructive power... the wildlife lost, people killed, the homes lost, the acreage lost... the lives displaced.
I was riveted to the TV yesterday, mezmorized by the flames as the ravaged the canyons and hills... many places I had lived or camped and hiked... and fought fires. I was once an ER paramedic and when I lived in Silverado Canyon, I became a volunteer firefighter. In the early ninties, I fought in fires in many of the same places the fires rage now... so I know what the firefighters face. And I am impressed with how quickly they respond to a new flare-up and how many homes they have saved, especially considering how stretched thin and limited in resources they are.
I take stock in the valiant efforts of the firefighters and the ordinary people who showed courage, helping their neighbors. But I am disheartened by the predators who come looting or canvassing for bogus donations. I guess this stuff brings out both the best and worst of humanity. We are a complicated species!
My bff just called... she can now see the flames in great definition as they are coming in from the two fronts toward her house. She's freaked... so's her aunt and the dog and the horses! The fire's close now... she may have to bail. She can grab her essentials, but there is so much, that is her life that won't fit in the car. The firetrucks are coming up her street now to prepare for a stand. There is a firebreak between her house and the fireline, but it too has become over grown with brush, now dried and tinderlike from the drought. So, it's probably going to be a fight... my hopes go with her!
The fires are expected to last another few days before they're contained, if the winds stay down... and once extinguished, there is then the process of rebuilding... of reclaiming lives. This will be with us for some time I think...
Hell has come to SoCal!
Edited to add...
My friend's house survived the night and the flames have moved off... but the flames still line the hills on the only route out. The winds have died down and are expected to stay that way. Revised numbers of the displaced range from 350,000 to 500,000 people. Those numbers are expected to climb. Though the worst of the firestorm is over... there are still fires raging through communities. It should all be over in a few days.
I take stock that our president and FEMA are giving this matter their personal attention... remember how well that worked out for New Orleans.
Hell Comes To SoCal
I sat on my roof tonight at sunset, smoking a bowl. I live on the northeast coast of the OC, back a couple miles from the beach, well away from the fires. But I could see the firelines surrounding OC, smoke billowing from Malibu and from San Diego. The skyline is an eerie orange color and the air grits in your mouth... the smoke hovers like a toxic fog. And the conclusion was inescapable... SoCal is in a general state of apocalypse.
I had felt it coming. Saturday was the begining of our "Santana" (Devil Winds) Condition... the wind was calm, but I could tell. When I woke up Sunday morning I could feel there was a fire somewhere (in Malibu). By day's end there were about 12 running fires... tonight I count 18 major firestorms ranging throughout SoCal from Ventura to San Diego, thousands of homes have been destroyed and over 1,000,000 people are homeless or evacuated.
I have friends who have been affected by this... either lost homes or evacuated. My bff "Rachel" right now is watching the flames encroach on her home from two sides. She has her essentials packed... her aunt (and housemate) has her horse trailer hooked up, ready to evacuate her horses. Yesterday she went to San Diego County to help evacuate horses there... yay Myrna, you rock!
Been off work for a few days so I've been acting as a communication center for my "tribal" network directing refugee friends to places to stay, or safe campgrounds to meet at and directing bringing in food, water and other essentials.
The winds have died down for now, but the fires rage on. I've seen some knarley fires in SoCal but these are the worst firestorms I've seen here... ever. Usually fires burn as a front, but fires as firestorms (large swaths of raging flames) are rare. But almost all these fires are firestorms, marching through the countryside like an unholy army of fire-demons, devouring everything in it's path, purging the land of all life.
I have a fascination with fire, but it's radiant and hypnotic beauty are tempered now with the evidences if it's awesome, destructive power... the wildlife lost, people killed, the homes lost, the acreage lost... the lives displaced.
I was riveted to the TV yesterday, mezmorized by the flames as the ravaged the canyons and hills... many places I had lived or camped and hiked... and fought fires. I was once an ER paramedic and when I lived in Silverado Canyon, I became a volunteer firefighter. In the early ninties, I fought in fires in many of the same places the fires rage now... so I know what the firefighters face. And I am impressed with how quickly they respond to a new flare-up and how many homes they have saved, especially considering how stretched thin and limited in resources they are.
I take stock in the valiant efforts of the firefighters and the ordinary people who showed courage, helping their neighbors. But I am disheartened by the predators who come looting or canvassing for bogus donations. I guess this stuff brings out both the best and worst of humanity. We are a complicated species!
My bff just called... she can now see the flames in great definition as they are coming in from the two fronts toward her house. She's freaked... so's her aunt and the dog and the horses! The fire's close now... she may have to bail. She can grab her essentials, but there is so much, that is her life that won't fit in the car. The firetrucks are coming up her street now to prepare for a stand. There is a firebreak between her house and the fireline, but it too has become over grown with brush, now dried and tinderlike from the drought. So, it's probably going to be a fight... my hopes go with her!
The fires are expected to last another few days before they're contained, if the winds stay down... and once extinguished, there is then the process of rebuilding... of reclaiming lives. This will be with us for some time I think...
Hell has come to SoCal!
Edited to add...
My friend's house survived the night and the flames have moved off... but the flames still line the hills on the only route out. The winds have died down and are expected to stay that way. Revised numbers of the displaced range from 350,000 to 500,000 people. Those numbers are expected to climb. Though the worst of the firestorm is over... there are still fires raging through communities. It should all be over in a few days.
I take stock that our president and FEMA are giving this matter their personal attention... remember how well that worked out for New Orleans.
twinkie:
ah yes, having to do with ownership of large scary items.