California Wildfires

October 27, 2003

Email from

Kathie Bobbitt

I think Southern CA is going to go up in flames! Would love to get hold of the jerk(s) who set these fires.   I live quite a distance (50 miles and more, depending on which fire you talk about). They are all on outlying areas of cities, against the mountains. A real mess. Our mountains are hard to get in to, to fight fires and there's lots of old, dead trees (thanks to a beetle blight) to burn.

As towns get larger though, folks built houses closer and closer to what's left of the valleys and up into the foothills and even into the tall mountains. We're talking a few thousand feet up in some places. No wonder our mountains never get a chance to grow real forests. About every 10 yrs or so, some fools decide to burn it down! Poor animals running right back into the fires, confused.

Many people had no idea the fires would even get close to them, or move so fast, and they had to leave with almost nothing in their cars.   This is the worst I've ever heard of in my 55 years here. My younger brother and family went through a bad one in 1980, near one of the areas threatened in San Bernardino and they moved when it was over, to Oregon. It's the wind that's the worst. You can't fight with your garden hose in 70-90 mph winds! My brother said back then, that he called his friends up and they came with pick ups and hauled out everything in his house in 30 min. He tried walking the streets to see where the fire was, approaching his own house, and suddenly, a bush nearby would explode from flying embers. Real scary stuff. You can't even walk in winds like that, let alone try to keep your house wet. Isn't going to happen.  

I'm afraid to turn the tube on this morning, to see how many more homes have been lost. Looks like the number was over 800 last night. One family of 5 got caught in their car and burned up. Others died from heart attacks watching the beast approach their homes. Too old to run.  Makes me think a lot about my morning email verse and message today. The world and everything in it is fleeting. Better make sure we work for those things that are lasting.

Last night I thought I smelled a neighbor cooking on a Bar-b-q. NOT. It was just the smell of smoke in the air, over 50 miles away. Being right in the thick it must be awful. My lungs are affected even here near LA. I am supposed to go up to the high desert (Lancaster), on Wed, but the freeways might be closed and I'd be passing by one area being burned. I'll have to check the morning I go to see if I can make it.  

Yesterday watching the sun rise, it was more like sun SET. The sun was bright orange like fire. The skies are just filled with smoke and haze and soot. Everything covered with it.  Rinsed my car two times yesterday. It's covered again this morning.

Just turned on the tube. My God, one fire has just jumped a freeway again and headed for thousands of homes. Rough terrain. Rocks, etc. Our freeways are 6 and 8 lanes across.  Imagine flames crossing that distance and starting up on the other side. It's so dry in those areas. LA is nothing but an irrigated desert you know. It's headed into the Chatsworth area. The homes in the hills are of course, the very expensive ones. I used to love to drive the area. Won't look so pretty on my next trip. When it finally does rain here, we'll have mud slides now. No vegetation left.  

Gotta get to work. Pray for cooler temps out here. Another day in the 90's I'm afraid.  

 Kathie