Greetings from the hot and windy city.  Thank you, everyone, for your calls and text messages. Lillian and I are safe and comfortably away from the current fires. Lillian’s sister and our HS friend, and his family are close to the Hurst fire, but they live uphill and up-wind, so they are not in danger. All of our other friends and relatives are safe as well. While nobody is in immediate danger or has lost property, we all know people who have lost their houses.

Make no mistake, this is bad. The Santa Anna winds, the lack of rain, and the fact that these fires are largely in mountainous terrain make them difficult to control or contain.

I understand that LA county schools are closed, and everyone is urged to stay off the roads to allow the fire companies room to work. The power has been shut off in large city sections so active powerlines don’t spark more fires.

I heard that over 7,500 firefighters from all over California and crews from Arizona and Nevada are here, along with 2,000 National Guard troops.

If you watch the news, I’m sure you are getting a dose of sensational reporting with little to no real information. In addition, if you don’t know the city, I’m sure it’s difficult to get a good picture of where the fires are, how bad they are, and what the sum total looks like.

The screenshot hopefully gives you a better perspective on where everything is.

The best and up-to-date info is on the Cal Fire Website 

I most certainly will let you know if we are evacuated or if our situation changes.