Another Fire

I wasn't going to write about the fire. Brush fires have been the subject of so many of my posts, it seemed like enough was enough. But still, it has been hard to ignore this fire. The photo is of what I look at from work everyday. This is a day shot. At night, the mountains to the east are covered with spots of brilliant orange flames that sometimes shoot up into the sky.

The fire has been going on for almost a week. At night, the smoke drifts down and creates what looks like a marine layer. But it's not fog, just smoke. During the day, the smoke rises back into the sky so that the air is just unhealthful to breathe, as opposed to toxic. And, it is getting worse. Even inside the hospital, the air is smoky. At my house, it smells like there is a campfire burning in my backyard. There is also an ominous red glow over the mountains that, for the first time since the fire started, is visible from my house. The fire is approaching.

I've never seen a fire like this in the absence of a windstorm. Sure, it is hot and dry. But without high winds, the Fire Department can usually put out fires like this before they get out of control. It is expected that the fire will burn for another two weeks. It was that bit of news that has me unnerved. The only thing between the fire and my house is a few miles of brush covered mountains, a dry river and a freeway. If a wind picks up from the north-east in the next two weeks, I'm in trouble. Even without the wind, the fire is slowly moving towards Santa Clarita.