For those who heard about the major fires in SoCal, I just wanted to send out thoughts and prayers to Poltergeist and others down there who are close enough to the fires to smell. Good luck to you!

Close enought to smell the fires and get my car covered in ash (inside and out) but not to where I'm worried about my place catching fire (really do think I'm OK). But it is the strangest thing that all of these fires are going and they are gigantic. Last I heard 850 homes, 500+ miles of land and even more unfortuate 13 lives have been lost.

This is what the sky looked like at 12 noon on Saturday. It was dark enough at 2pm that the auto headlights on my Camaro came on.

http://home.ix.netcom.com/~rob.hagg/tempimage/Red_Sun2.jpg

8O Good Lord !!! I was a Fireman for almost 5 years and I still can't imagine a fire whipped by 70 mph winds.They say it involves 100 thousand acres PLUS!!!! .GOOD LUCK to all involved.
Its not bad enough you have to deal with earthquakes,now this.
8) Shane

Up here in Alberta and British Columbia, we just got over our worst fire season ever. my city,Calgary, was getting smoke and soot from a fire that was almost 2 hours away at highway speeds. I know those firefighters will get it under control, i've seen these guys in action and they are machines.
I wish everyone well and all the best.

The good thing is it is CALIFORNIA thats burning!..


Just kidding hope all of you and yours are safe and sound and stay that way.

I spent a few of my years in the Navy as an aircraft firefighter until I moved on to something else. It was a pretty easy couple of years and in no way compares to civilian firefighters. These guys put their life on the line at a moments notice day in and day out. You can hardly watch the local or national news without seeing a story where they are risking their lives. Some receive what we perceive to be good pay, others volunteer for little or no pay. I saw a reporter interview one this morning whose fighting the fires in California, he said they're working a 30hr shift. 30 HOURS! Look at how many lost their lives on 9-11. We had a high rise fire here in Chicago a little over a week ago...6 people died, the fire department got some bad publicity from some politicians and the media. BS. These guys were fighting a fire over 2000 degrees in a smoke filled confined space, anyone ever been in a situation like that, think about what it would be like. I did twenty years in the military...if any of you guys that read this are Firemen, I want you to know, YOU GUYS ARE MY HEROES! God bless you guys! Thanks for what you do!

We just got activated to fire those fires. I am active duty air guard based at Charlotte NC. We have C-130H-3 aircraft that 2 of them can be modified for MAFFES(mobile airborn fire fighting systems). We go on MAFFES missions each year. I am the propulsion mechanic so my job is to keep the jet engines running there best & working in the "pits". I have seen first hand many times what fire fighters do & have worked with them. I too salute them!

When you're falling asleep late at night and you here sirens, it means two things.

1-somewhere something has gone wrong.

2-somewhere someone is on the way to make it right.