Oh crap. The moon turned smoke-red while we were passing out Halloween candy...

[Hekate]

Explosive brushfire out Santa Paula way -- where the Thomas Fire started 2 years ago. Daughter texting us, Hubby pulled up the news on computer.

The good news, if such there be, is I am still packed from the big windstorm.

[Docreed2003]

1. Stay safe! Thoughts for you and yours!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. I hope the fire stays far away from you, my dear Hekate!

[Hekate]

3. Thank you -- we just have to wait and see. We have a place to go if need be.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

4. is Air Force One dropping rakes?

Don't suppose there are many in California who appreciate The Dumbest Don and his rakes.


Hope you don't have to evacuate. Cold and wet, here. Wish I could send you some of each.

[ismnotwasm]

5. I hope you and yours stay safe!

[Beatlelvr]

6. Smelled smoke tbis morning

when retrieved the newspaper. We are in Pasadena area.
Am just finishing putting together disaster prep bags for my mom, me, and the two cats.

These fires are popping up everywhere, really horrible.

[RockRaven]

7. Always scary when this stuff kicks up at night because the news is usually no help until morning...

even if you stay awake and try to keep up to date. And if you are asleep or off-line when it starts...

I was living in the San Diego area during the Cedar Fire and didn't even know it was happening until I woke up in the morning to the smell of wood smoke, raining fine ash, and grey skies (which absent the first two I might have mistaken for the usual marine layer/fog). I turned on the radio to find out that since 5:30 PM the night prior a fire went from zero to 100,000 acres and was now about 5 miles from my doorstep. Thankfully 3-4 miles was about as close as it got to my location, but it did burn into other dense suburbs -- 13 people died in the first 24 hours of the fire.

Stay safe, be aggressively cautious. Better to flee too early/unnecessarily than too late, with so many unpredictable factors in play.

[Midnight Writer]

8. I can't imagine. Take care of yourself and your people. I hope the best for you and everyone.

[alwaysinasnit]

9. Stay safe. I know the feeling. We are just getting back to "normal" from the Kincade

fire in Sonoma county (4 days without electricity).

[SleeplessinSoCal]

10. surely there isn't the kind of growth that made Thomas so deadly.

Watching it on local news. Stay safe. 💜

[Hekate]

12. Yes, that's what the fire capt said when it was at 5,000 acres a couple of hours ago. Said the fuel

...is not as bad, the wind is not as bad, and that despite all the evacuations in the immediate area (like Somis) he did not expect it to do much more than double in size. I very much hope he's right.

Off to bed.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

14. Heard it is 0% contained a few hours ago.

Hopefully daylight will make the difference fighting it.

[calimary]

11. Worried all week about our neighbors in the old neighborhood.

Evacuations finally lifted. Our part of the canyon escaped the worst. And everybody’s fine.

Thank you God.

[Hekate]

13. Exactly

Take care.

[malaise]

15. Stay safe

Heard the winds are down today

[MineralMan]

16. Yup. I talked to my father about half an hour ago.

He was just back from Santa Paula. He said that the fire had moved over to the other side of South Mountain and was no longer visible, although there was a lot of smoke. My mother is in a nursing home in Santa Paula, but nowhere near the fire.

[Hekate]

17. Glad to hear your folks are okay. Very smokey here in the foothills but we are otherwise okay...

In the olden days I would have said that after a big burn like the Thomas Fire we should be safe for the next 20 years, but not any more.

Be well.