Wildfires/Firestorms are devouring massive areas of Southern California. The above photo is not smoke of the current “Witch Fire” but of the “Cedar Fire” almost four years ago to the day of the current disaster. Although the Witch Fire is significantly worse than the Cedar Fire, it is not so evident here at my humble abode. In other words, today’s calamity hasn’t created the dramatic sky at my location as with the Cedar Fire. Not the overhead trough of smoke. The odor of smoke still permeates however. There is lots of ash. But the thick of smoke is more of a distant sight. Overhead the sky is hazy but remains blue. The sun isn’t shrouded. Certainly anyone in the wind path of the current fires will see a deep smoke trough overhead. My location this time hasn’t had that delivery. Not yet any way.

Midday during the 2003 Cedar Fire. This is all smoke. Otherwise a bright blue sky would have been the canopy. More than a month passed before the Cedar Fire was 100% “Controlled.”
The number of evacuees resulting from the 2007 firestorms is more than 3 times the entire population of San Diego when my mom and dad first lived here during WWII. These fires are not new in the history of California. Only the communities and houses destroyed are relatively new.