Hi there. Let me get this one out of the way: I have not burnt down and currently have no plans to do such.
Oh, you don't know what I'm talking about? Turn on the TV. Southern California is burning up. Apparently God has decided that trees, shrubs, wild animals, rich folks and really poor folks are going to pay for all of us middle-class sinners. Guess there are just too many Jews or gay people or women's lib believers or something. Hey, I don't pretend to know the big plan. I just know I've been breathing ash and fumes for the past few days and my brain's working more strangely than normal.
Life has been pretty nuts these past few days. This weekend I was ramping up to complete a final paper for one of my classes (BUS640: Managerial Accounting, woo!) and then I saw the haze on the skyline and smelled a campfire. Come Monday morning, 6:00 AM, I'm awoken by the senior programmer. Wake up, he says, you don't have to go to work today. Instead, he and I spent the day working remotely to pulling backups of every imaginable piece of data or code and planning for catastrophic system failure due to, you know, the office burning down. Oh yeah, that was the other thing, my office is pretty much a 50/50 for getting caught in the fire. Still is.
So, a couple of days have passed and what has changed? Well, even more of San Diego and the surrounding areas are on fire. It's just as out of control as ever. Over half a million people have been evacuated from their homes. It is being called the worst fire San Diego has ever seen. Thousands of businesses and homes burnt. Lives disrupted. Animals spooked. The mantra the headlines are chanting is "It will get worse before it gets better."
Pfft. Fire, schmire.
I've got $20 and a local bar. Everybody knows beer's alcohol content is low enough that it doesn't burn. That's right, you guessed it. I'm going to become the inflammable man. See you in the history books, suckers!
Update:
I have only seen fire in the distance, late Monday night. The most exposure I've had to it, as of yet, has been smoke and ash in my neighborhood. I'm actually quite a distance from any real danger. I'm going back into work tomorrow, which is within a voluntary evacuation zone. This will put me much closer to the fires but not in direct risk. I like my job but not enough to catch on fire. That's just silly.
Reference:
Pretty maps of fire zones
Google Map of burnt houses (with pictures!)
Awesome Google Map of fire zones, evacuation zones, etc. (I love you, Google!)
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10 comments:
And you used to think Pittsburgh's air quality was rough!
Zing!
it is a beautiful fall day here in MICHIGAN, where the freeways are less congested and everyone seems to be living alone...in their houses...with no other family members...i have extra rooms.
seriously, i am glad all we know out west are safe and healthy (save for the sand and ash up the nose).
does this mean a vacation to SoCal in
february is prolly not a good idea?
Adam:
Thanks for posting on this amazing example of nature versus man. It has been an experience for John and I as well and the most obvious learning point is that Cali folks know how to get along in tragedies. You don't see a load of news coverage on neighborhood or store lootings, because they are rare. Everyone is pulling together to help one another out. I am going to try and find out how we folks in FV can help with donations. FEMA is doing better than they did in Louisiana, but it can't last forever.
peace,
meg
Oh man, AGAIN?? Wasn't southern California just on fire last year? And the year before that? It's like you didn't get enough attention growing up or something. Sheesh.
But, uh, everyone's good, yeah? My friend lost her home in Blue Jay to the fires 2 or 3 years ago, and I guess it was no fun. So try to avoid that.
Hey, LA is on fire too! Ok, Malibu is on fire... no sympathy there. But the Canyon Country area has had some pretty serious damage this week. I can't complain though. The worst effects I can see here is some serious smoke coverage. The sky is all orange now. Its pretty creepy.
Speaking of sunsets, we were treated (in SE MI) to one of the most glorious sunsets we have seen in quite a long time. While watching the orange sun-ball slowing sink into the horizon is not all that unusual, the entire western half of the sky last night was gold/red/orange and it lasted for about an hour. It was a glorious sight! If it weren't for the fact that California is 3000 miles away, one would have thought we were watching the distant reflection of the fires.
A question for the Californians who may have heard the answer through their local media; now that the fires have swept through and burned the dead wood and under-brush, what are the chances of having another fire next year, nil? One would think you'd be safe for a few years until the fuel that feeds the fires have a chance to build up again, no?
Here's what it looks like from space. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/10/nasas-latest-fi.html
In response to Frank's question: we now have flood and landslide problems to look forward to because of the loss of foliage and accelerated erosion. Woohoo! Oh, well that's only if we get a significant rainfall, which hasn't really happened for a year now, which is why those dang fires were so bad to begin with.
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