The whole area is on fire around here...

[XMEN Ashaman DTM]

Started about a week and a half ago. Someone set a fire that ended up burning up like 10,000 acres in one or two days. That fire is still going. Several more (like 20) smaller fires are going as well. All of those ones are suspected to be arson.

This last weekend, there was so much smoke in the air that you couldn't see more than a half mile in front of you. Everything was reddish brown because of the smoke filtering the sunlight. Then the wind picked up and cleared the air of the smoke overnight. That wind also fanned the fires (winds average 35 knots around here... about 35 mph).

Then another fire started that's shut down the freeways a couple of times. It was started by a bird flying into some power lines, getting fried, catching fire, and falling on some dry sage brush. Talk about impossible odds....

But if you hear anything about fires in California on the news, those fires are about 20 - 30 miles from where I live. (Not really a danger to me either.)