There's not much I can say about the Southern California wildfires that hasn't been beaten to death on the news. Because we live downtown, Lady Anne and I are pretty safe. I can't say the same thing for the half million people that have evacuated their homes at some point in time.
For three days almost every popular FM radio station was not playing music, just relaying the local AM news station. The radio and every network TV channel was playing news round the clock, pre-empting all other programming, including prime time, to relay news of the fires.
It really is surreal to see the pictures on the news and to walk out your front door and have the air filled with smoke and ash.
One thing I can say is that the community has really rallied around those in need. The evacuation centers actually had to turn donations of supplies away because they had too many donations. People have been opening their homes to evacuees; a doctor that Lady Anne works for has THREE evacuee families staying with her.
As for impact to us, Lady Anne did not go to work the first two days of the fire but returned today. A lot of companies were telling their employees not to come into work. That goes for me too; you can't really fly when the sky is full of smoke. I haven't been to work all week. My squadron has been pretty dead over the past few days; only a couple aircrews on search-and-rescue duty standby in case they are needed.
These pesky Santa Ana winds have died down a bit, so hopefully the fire stops spreading and fire crews and aircraft can get in there and end this. With over a billion dollars worth of damage so far, the county can't absorb much more.
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