No doubt, by now you have heard about the fires ravaging Southern California at the moment -- having consumed an estimated hundred thousand acres so far. By Monday, hundreds of thousands of half a million people had fled or been ordered to evacuate their homes [this is now the largest internal evacuation since hurricane Katrina].
In September I drove through Malibu, admiring the homes there. One home in particular was built like a castle. Today, that castle home is ashes. Many of the movie stars live in Malibu, and so folks like singer/actress Olivia Newton-John and director James Cameron have had to evacuate.
The satellite image above is from NASA and shows how quickly the fires grew yesterday, October 21, 2007.
Planes flying into L.A. from Sacramento had to pass through a massive layer of dark smoke. The captain of the aircraft warned passengers that the smoke they smell is outside the plane and that their plane was not actually on fire.
And though the media is fixated on Malibu, with all the Hollywood stars, San Diego is thought to be in much worse shape.
Below is a map someone created showing the current fires. I am in Los Angeles, the spot in the ring of fire.
More up-to-date information on the fires can be found here http://calfire.blogspot.com/.
From BoingBoing: San Diego Union Tribune fire blog, KPBS on twitter, Red Cross "Safe and Well" list.