I haven't had the TV on much the last few days. There's a lot of hard-to-avoid coverage of the wildfires that every now and then seem to pick a few days to pop up in different places and threaten lives and homes in California. The local news coverage is very good. In fact, it sometimes may be too good. I don't like seeing a news reporter, mike in hand, approach someone whose home has just been reduced to charcoal. In what might just be the worst moment in their lives, they don't need a newsperson putting them suddenly on live television and asking some slightly-more-tactful version of "How does it feel to lose everything you own?"
We can all imagine what that feels like. Leave those poor people alone.
On the other hand, the local stations have also been showing us scenes of great heroism…of hard-working fire fighters in heavy gear in heavier heat working to save people and property. One channel had some magnificent live shots of "super scooper" planes that would scoop up a load of water from a nearby body of H2O, fly over a burning area and dump its liquid cargo at precisely the right moment. Other planes were dropping fire retardant chemicals. I'm not sure if I cheered audibly for those pilots but I sure cheered inwardly.
None of this is anywhere near me but I have friends who might be threatened by this batch of blazes. Just thinking of people worrying about this makes me think that whatever we spend to prepare for these disasters, it ain't nearly enough.