Living in California Wildfire Country

With all the national news coverage of the Southern California wildfires, people all over the nation wonder what we here in California must be thinking and experiencing. Having experienced many a fire season, I would like to share first hand what it is like to deal with fire season.

My fourth wedding anniversary is coming up on November 1st. I always enjoy and anticipate my wedding anniversary, but the reminder of the possibility of fire season always looms overhead. So far this week there have been I believe about 15 separate fire incidents. In October of 2003, the numbers were similar.

First of all, let me explain how this happens. Southern California inevitably has a dry spring and summer every so often. The dry brush builds up and the stage is set for a regional inferno. Although scattered bits of cold weather and showers may occur throughout a Southern California fall, temperatures do not typically decline to a comfortable fall level until sometime in November. Meanwhile, the combination of Santa Ana winds (very strong and warm winds) and a heat wave create the beginning of fire season. The Santa Ana winds are very strong. They break trees and send street signs flying through the air. They also occasionally down power lines. Downed power lines, which are suspect for starting the current Malibu fire, create sparks. Combine electrical sparks with dry brush and you have a brush fire. To make matters worse, the strong Santa Ana winds carry the embers all over the area, so the fires grow rapidly.

Exacerbating the issue, you have arsonists. There are some sick people who derive some crazy sort of pleasure from watching chaos that they have created. When the brush fires start in one area, it is not uncommon for an arsonist to start one in another, just to watch the scramble. I suppose it is a case of people committing a copy cat crime on nature. There are other accidental reasons that these fires starts, but I believe I have covered the major causes.

Now, what is it like to live in the densely populated Los Angeles area in the midst of this?

Annoying.

Inconvenient.

Yes, some people do lose their homes, but it is usually a small percentage of the population. We all feel very bad for these people, but the rest of us deal with the following:
Smoke
With heavy winds, smoke carries. This means that the smell of smoke is prevalent in pretty much every city in the Southern California area, so there is really no getting away from it. During the harsher times, ash rains from the sky to be sucked into our lungs and dirty our cars and houses. Because I am asthmatic, this is really a drag for me. It means staying in doors as much as possible, but inevitably ending up with a chronic cough by the time it is over.

Power Outages
Downed power lines and heavy winds means that we deal with power outages and all of the annoyances that come with that. I am currently writing this article from a public computer because my computer will not turn on after the off-on-off-on-off... off.... off.... power issues yesterday afternoon. You do not realize how much computers control your life until you cannot turn yours on.

Major Television Coverage
Believe it or not, those of you out of state may know that the hills surrounding my house are on fire before I do. Because the smoke comes from all directions, it is hard to tell when it gets close. The smoke gets blacker and more intense, but I often find out that my hometown of Simi Valley is on fire by watching the news. After several days of the fire coverage, it does get old, and you start to want your favorite shows back. The local ABC website actually ran an article announcing that Oprah started late because of the fire coverage. That's always amusing.

Traffic
The fires are scary, yes, but the most frustrating and scary part has to be the feeling of being trapped. When the fires close in to our nearby area, the major freeways and roads are closed. This happens both for our safety and to allow firefighters access, but it means that getting out or in is sometimes impossible. When the fires happened the year of my wedding, pretty much every road going into and out of my hometown was closed. This made the whole wedding planning process very difficult. Fortunately, a large rainstorm happened the day before my wedding and all was saved.
If you happen to be out of town when a fire starts... you are pretty much just stranded. My poor husband was in San Diego when the fires broke out, so he spent about 6 hours for what should be a 2 hour drive, just trying to get home to me on Monday.

Well, there you have it. It is scary... but most of all, it is annoying and inconvenient. My heart goes out to all who have lost homes. For now, I just pray that the smoke clears.