Where I am, it's still 93° — Fahrenheit, fortunately, though it could pass for Celsius. But it feels hotter because if you look to the north, you see huge, off-white clouds of smoke from fires in Glendale, La Crescenta, La Cañada Flintridge and Altadena. The fires are nowhere near me but it's still scary. People live up there. People are being evacuated from their homes. Many of them are now sitting in rescue centers wondering if they'll have homes to return to.
Crews are up there fighting the flames…and you can only hope that California's budget problems haven't reduced the effectiveness of that effort. Even if you're not threatened — even if no one you know is threatened — you want to think that everything that can be done is being done. I sure hope so.