Thank you very much Abbey-Helen. Means a lot.
It's dodgy with the winds changing direction in a forceful way. Hard to know what's the next point of concern. After the first burn close to my home we thought it was under control more or less, and the winds went still for a time the problem for us where we are is that smoke, which had been blowing away was now filling our neighborhoods, and the fires were coming back our way.
Next morning as it was still, I drove up into Woolsey Drive which is near where I live. It drives up into the hills and one could get an overview of the Valley. The smoke was thickly filling the basin. Smoldering charred bits peppering the ground, phone lines between the charred poles had insulation in dangling tatters. And yet we thought it was controlled -- in our area.
But then the winds started blowing hard again and we heard more and more communities being given mandatory evacuation. Nothing that the news hasn't been covering. But to bring it home for the people who are suffering, we've heard friends on Facebook say they moved their possessions from their home in a high risk area to a friend's home for safety. Her home burned down and then the friend's home with her possessions also burned down. This fire is vast and moving very fast as you know.
My family has been lucky (cautiously stated). But of course many have lost everything. And the winds just picked up again. It's been blowing out to sea -- for now. Predictions are going to be where they will shift to blowing inland in a couple days which means if we don't have just fire issues, we'll be dealing with smoke again.
We very much appreciate your caring. Keeping knees bent here.
"Not a bit is wasted and the best is yet to come. . ." -- remembered from a dream