Fire, Rain and Snow

A grim start to the year.

We all watched as thousands of homes, and acres of forests burned to the ground at the start of the year in Los Angeles.

High Santa Ana winds are common here, and fires starting and spreading because of them are nothing new. I have watched them my whole life. So, when I first heard there was a fire in the hills above Santa Monica, I truly didn’t think much of it. Usually, around here, the fire will burn for a few miles in the mountains but they can get it under control well before it gets to any homes or structures — but the winds got too intense.

The gusts that evening were like nothing I ever knew was even possible. Right before I went to bed on Tuesday I remember seeing on the news that a new fire had started in Eaton Canyon, and I immediately knew it was going to be bad. But, I was sick with a cold and had just taken a NyQuil and there was nothing I could do to stay awake to see how it progressed.

I woke many times that night to the wind gusts as they ripped avocados off our tree and hurled them onto our roof for hours. I sat in bed waiting for the sun to come out, but it never did. When I finally got up to take a look it was like we were in some sort of apocalypse. The sky was black, trees were bare of the last of their leaves, debris was everywhere.

I turned on the news and saw much of the city of Altadena had burned to the ground. In just a few hours the winds pushed the fire through neighborhoods, destroying everything. We are living just 20 minutes southwest of that area, right in line with the direction of the wind. So with ash raining down, I threw on a jacket and dust mask to see how things looked in our neighborhood. It was grim, as one can imagine.

I had local news on basically nonstop for the next 3 days as new fires around the LA area continued popping up. Thankfully, the winds let up a bit and allowed firefighters to do their thing and get it under control eventually.

It is February 5 now, and since these fires began we‘ve only had a couple days of rain (and snow in the mountains) - the only notable precipitation we’ve had all winter.

Fires are a unique part of the Earth’s cycle. Some are necessary to keep the forests in check. Yet, when they encroach on the livelihoods of people and their communities it is tough to hear about their destruction as us humans prove to be helpless in the fight against nature.

Looking up at the San Gabriel Mountains from home to see snow covered peaks is certainly a nice change to the flames and smoke just a few weeks ago. Had this rain come earlier who knows how much that could have helped put an end to the fire much quicker.