SoCal is burning

There are 14 different fires going on in Southern California. The fires started late Sunday night. They have declared a state of emergency in 7 counties. The fires ranged from Malibu to the border of California by San Diego. There are two fires in our area. One, is in Ontario (10 miles west) and the other is at Lake Arrowhead. (10 miles east) There are actually two fires in the Lake Arrowhead area and they are about to join into one big fire. I have been amazed at the footage on TV of these HUGE flames just swallowing houses and large trees. It is estimated that there is one billion dollars worth of damage. There have been almost a half a million acres already burned. Almost a million people have been evacuated.
As for us, we are doing fine. We are in no immediate danger of the fires. We are, however, getting so much smoke and ash it looks like it's snowing. Stangely enough, it was 99 degrees yesterday. Joe's aunt lives in Encinitas and her house was evacuated yesterday. But she was able to go home this morning, thank heavens.
There are so many fires all at once that there is not enough fire fighters to fight all the fires. The fire in Lake Arrowhead is 0% contained. The other issue we have to worry about is the Santa Ana winds, that can blow up to 60mph. This has been hard to contain any of the fires because at a moments notice the wind can change directions and shift the fire. Thus, putting a lot of fire fighters in danger. The saddest and most pathetic thing about this is that at least two of the fires are believed to have been arson-related. So let's pray they can get these fires under control and arrest the people responsible for starting them.