CALIFORNIA FIRES

Thanks for the thoughts, Tela. I am about 43 miles to the SSE of the fire, and the Santa Ana winds are moving it to the west. However, conditions are ripe for more devastating fires. Especially if the winds keep up, like the weather guessers say they will. The winds have actually died down significantly today, but that can change. We are supposed to have them back this weekend. All it takes is some pyro to start a fire, and with the wind blowing like that, it is almost impossible to fight. Haven't heard anything yet (or if they even know), but since the fire started along the freeway, chances are good it was started by a car/catalytic converter. A lot of that around here. Although much more common when the temps are higher.

The Lilac fire has been the leading story (as I'm sure you can imagine!) on all the local news stations in San Diego. The fire started just over 24 hours ago, and I was watching a live feed from the area. There was no reporter on site, just the video, of the flames blowing westward - horizontally - and consuming everything in their path. The sound of the fire was unbelievable, crackling and popping. You just got a strange visceral feeling watching it, but I couldn't tear myself away.

There are multi-million dollar homes in the area that have been destroyed, but I think the biggest losers were the occupants of an upscale senior mobile home park. At least a third to a half of the homes there were total loss, devastating to those seniors.

The fire is in an area full of horses, training facilities and equestrian centers. A lot of high dollar thoroughbred horses up there. I understand at least 25 of them perished. The flames came so fast, it just caught the barns on fire, trapping many animals. The workers there risked their lives to go in and open stalls to let them free. At least that way, they had a chance. I heard the story of one horse that was scared and would not leave the barn, it died. A lot had burns and cuts. Horses were rounded up afterwards, and they and many others were taken to the fairgrounds to keep them safe. They are being cared for and receiving medical attention at the fairgrounds.

There was another fire to the east of me along the south side of I-8, but haven't heard much about it. So it was either put out or at least under control. There are also several fire burning south of the border in Mexico. Those will continue to burn to the wets, so no threat from them.

The rains we did have over last winter and into the spring were a mixed blessing. They gave us sorely needed water, and ended the drought. But they also contributed to plant growth, giving us a lot of fuel for situations such as this. Right now everything is so dry. We've had no rain since October, and that wasn't much. The relative humidity is very low, has gotten down into the teens.

At least we are not having a heat wave, this is a cold Santa Ana. But by tomorrow and Sunday, we could get temps here around 85.

ETA - I was typing while you posted Pat.  Thanks for the concerns.