Flames LIght the Night

Once again, SoCal is ablaze. It seems that when one fire starts, others soon follow. My brother and his family have returned home as once the winds died down, the Montecito fire seemed to burn back on itself, allowing containment. Thankfully for us, that occurred at Rattlesnake Canyon; however, between the wealthy mansions in parts of Montecito and my family home were many, many other family homes in the path of the devastating fire as it raged out of control. About 75 homes burned in Montecito, that rich enclave of star-studded homes, but another 125 burned in Santa Barbara as the fire raced along the back side of the Montecito area into the foothills of Santa Barbara, Everyone was thankful that there was not a repeat of 1978, when a similar fire, starting in the same canyon as this one, Sycamore Canyon, turned and tore a path of destruction through Santa Barbara on its way to the ocean.

Yesterday, another half dozen fires took off, one in Yorba Linda and Anaheim Hills that is raging in an area that was deeply involved in a major fire just a year ago, as well as another one in Sylmar that took out a mobile home court, as well as a dozen commercial buildings and several homes. Officials are deeply worried about fatalities in the mobile home park fire as there simply was not time to evacuate, nor to check on the safety of elderly residents. Neither one of these is anywhere near under control, so we'll see what today brings.

It's as if the arsonists wait for the Santa Ana winds to light the torches across SoCal. When the winds are hurricane force, in excess of 70 miles an hour, nothing can be done to stop the fires, regardless of how many fire fighters and how much equipment are rushed to the scene. Residents don't have time to pack 'n go: they have to run for their lives with the clothes on their backs.

As one firefighter said, these massive blazes used to be a once-in-a-career fire; now they are every year, year after year after year, and all too often, occurring in the same geographical areas. He said he doesn't know how people will recover from these fires during these economic times, which is a sad point to ponder this early on a Sunday morning.