Many of you, if not most, have heard of the recent NorCal fires. This has been astounding! It began with very high winds - up to 80 M.P.H. (you can convert that to metric if it suits you) in the late evening/night. Evidently, those winds took down dead trees and branches (after 5 years of "drought" conditions) which, in turn, took down power lines and poles. Transformers sparked up and caused immediate blazes.
There was one in the small city in which I live. It took around 150 "structures" with it, mostly homes. Evacuations began on the other side of the street where I reside - too close for comfort. I lived out of a couple of suitcases ( one for me, one for my dog) for over a week, not knowing if or when an officer or firefighter would come to the door and tell us to get out NOW!
This was one of the lesser damaged areas. The home I lived in before this (7 years ago) went up in the Redwood Valley fire, one of the original eight. It has been an incredible experience.
I have nothing but high praise for the law enforcement officers and firefighters, both on land and in the air) who have put their lives on the line for all of us.
Pretty much all of them, and the many others spawned by blowing cinders and coals, have been 100% contained as of this writing.
Santa Rosa, about 50 miles south of me and where my new pain specialist is, was hit very hard, probably the hardest. I don't know how long it will take to find the "cremains" of those who perished in the first night. If you are not aware, these fires started close to 11:00 pm on a Sunday night. People had gone to bed aware of no problem other than high winds, only to be awakened by neighbors or emergency personnel not long after to a wall of flames approached rapidly; in some cases too rapidly to do anything but escape in nightwear and able to take nothing with them. Some didn't wake at all. It was a living hell.
When I went to my new p.s. this week, I had to drive into Santa Rosa on highway 101. I saw one area where the fire had jumped six lanes of freeway/highway and the devastation on both sides reminded me of pictures I had seen in history classes of parts of London and Dresden in the aftermath if WW II. Total destruction. Homes, shopping centers, restaurants, everything taken down to the ground - a pile of rubble stretching for square miles. It is incredible, and I didn't see the hardest hit areas. Nor do I wish to.
Relief for all finally came in the form of a rainstorm. These brave people out here fighting these multiplying fires day and night for a week or more, most of it in sparsely populated mountain and valley terrain very difficult to maneuver one's self, never mind equipment for firefighting, received relief.
It's pretty well over now but for the clean up. But I know for so many people, the worst is only just coming to light. Homes, possessions, irreplaceable photographs, not to mention family, dear friends and loved ones, are gone forever and I don't believe they have come to terms with the shock of the entire event. They may not ever.
Tim/Booger54