There is so much smoke in the air right now, the
sky reminds me of summers in the 70s, when we had the really nasty smog
alerts for weeks at a time: it’s mostly yellow, with occasional streaks
of brown, and you can taste the air whether you’re inside or out. Anne called from work to say it was so thick there, her clothes smelled like she’d been camping.
I’m not close to any of the dozen or so fires that are burning out of control all over Southern California, but their smoke fills my neighborhood, burns my eyes, and makes me cough whenever I try to go outside and take a nice big breath.
For the record, I do not suggest walking outside to take a nice big breath when there’s smoke everywhere. In fact, I don’t know why I even did it, and I’ll be having a nice long talk with the voices in my head who commanded me to do it so I can straighten that shit out.
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Unfortunately, I know what you mean. There was a lot of smoke here in Orlando this summer when about a third of the state was on fire. It’s really bad when you can taste the smoke.
I’m in San Bernardino at work. I’m on the 4th floor and normally have a lovely view of the mountains. I’d almost say that it was a cloudy day, but the clouds are brown and the smoke is seeping thru the buildings hepa filters, and I can’t take a deep breath inside either.
Go Firefighters!
Makes me happy to be live in Texas…
At the end of last school year here in FL, we had to cancel outdoor PE for the kids the smoke was so bad. I came home each day smelling like a BBQ – a nice mesquite aroma stuck my clothes.
Living in the Antelope Valley (North Los Angeles County) we have fires nearly every year. The closest fires are about 30 miles away, but the smoke is minimal right now, thanks to the wind that is blowing it away from us. My family is heading over to the local High School to see if we can help out the evacuees that are there now. Let us hope that everyone makes it through intact, especially the firefighters.
Move to Iowa.
I remember that bad 70s smog. My family would drive down from the Bay Area to visit my aunt and uncle in Upland, and after one day, I’d have a sore throat. People new to CA probably don’t realize what a difference the tighter emissions standards make.
I know where you’re coming from, as someone who lives in Australia. I remember our last big bushfires in Sydney around Christmas 2001. There was a really unnaturally still atmosphere, all you could smell was smoke, the daylight was sort of yellow and there was ash falling from the sky… and that was miles away from the fires.
There’s a great photo here.
Hey Wil,
Long time reader and big fan, first time poster. Woo hoo!
But I had to post because I wanted to share this picture of the fires:
YIKES!
Also I can’t resist mentioning I am also a hardcover holdout. Good luck with the paypal junk.
It’s really bad in my area right now. I live up in Ventura County where we have the smoke from numerous fires not just in my area but from some of the other fires in Southern Ca.
I’d love to be able to do nothing more than just stay at home until all the fires are put out but working in the news industry sort of prevents that from happening at the moment 🙁 The newsroom smells like a big campfire and many people are coughing non-stop from all the smoke and ash in the air.
Luckily there have been no major fires on the RI/CT border. It would be TOUGH here if there were. I’m so sorry that the fires are hurting people
It made front page in the Charlotte Observer, was going to comment and see how you were, though I am relieved that your merrily smoked and not well done.
Wow. That was horrible. I apologize.
Err, glad to hear nothings near you.
Wil,
We just had a 5″ rainfall here in south Louisiana. Wish I could send it your way. I spent the evening finishing up “The Happiest Days of Our Lives”. I cried again reading the story of Felix the Bear.
Freeman 🙂
Dude, are you ever gonna tell us what that gig you got is?
I spent all day today helping friends evacuate. We spent hours relocating animals and packing whatever would fit in the cars. The smoke and ash is being thrown around by 40 MPH winds and our eyes and throats burn, even with masks and goggles. And even with everything we did today, tonight we can do nothing more than keep watching for flames on the horizon, take shifts hosing off the roof and trees and pray that the winds shift and take us out of danger.
But my small circle friends are not the only ones affected by this storm. This evening I went to deliver supplies to the thousands of people sitting at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. These are good decent people, who are sitting and praying that their homes will survive the fire storm. I can’t begin to describe the heartache I felt pulling up to unload my car and I felt so helpless knowing all I could offer these people was a hug and some prayers.
Any additional prayers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Glad to hear you aren’t in danger. Stay safe.
I saw pictures on the news this morning. Very frightening.
Working in Ventura, yeah I know, it was smoky all day the Malibu fire, both fires in Santa Clarita and the one by Piru all dumping the smoke right where I work. I freaken hate Ventura.
Ewww. Yeah, there were a lot of fires in south Georgia at the beginning of the summer, and it made it impossible to go outside and relax by the pool even up north of Atlanta!
Well, I’d have suggested someplace like the Midwest, but they get tornadoes. The Gulf & Southeast get regular hurricanes, with infrequent ones that devastate. The West Coast is sitting on a fault line. And New England? Well, it’s *New*England!* 😉
Up here in Newfoundland, Canada (the REAL end of the Appalachian range) we don’t get anything extreme with weather (fires, tornadoes, earthquakes, and even the hurricanes we get are ‘hand-me-downs’ from the US East Coast & Maritime Canada – just heavy rain) but we get REGULAR ‘dismal’ weather.
It almost seems like a karmic balance of climates; if you usually get GOOD weather in your region, the BAD weather you do get is *really* bad, but if you don’t get dangerous conditions like those, you don’t see a lot of nice weather. 🙂
Anyway, hope the fires die out/are beaten back soon, and also hope you can keep holding your breath ’til then! 😉
I spent all day looking like an outlaw with a bandana around my face. They closed my store and most of the Irvine Spectrum Center due to the smoke and ash. My headache still hasn’t gone away. Worst part, the Irvine fire is deemed to be arson. What the fuck? I was a teenage pyro but never thought “lets light up a hill during strong winds.” It was more like Binaca and a lighter by the beach firepit.
I’m here in Buena Park, and when I stepped outside to check on the plants I could smell it in the air and see it in the sky. We’ve checked with all friends and family who might be in the fires’ paths and so far no one is. Thankful for that. Glad you’re not, Wil. Meanwhile, the sky smells like fire….
You guys just need some rain and snow – Canada would be happy to share…
Can’t believe the wildfire stories. Seems like they get worse every year.
Here at my house, we have a factory that’s across the street. The stuff they use to clean their machines with smells like burnt popcorn.
About those voices… you might want to be rather stern. I’m sure they didn’t enjoy the not-so fresh air either.
Wil,
I hope you and your family (animals included) continue to be safe, and that the worst you get is a scratchy throat and stingy eyes. My thoughts and prayers also go out to those that are no so lucky and also to the brave people doing their best to fight those many fires. Here in NY all we have to worry about is snow…wish I could send some of that your way now.
I would say South Jersey, where I live, is the safest place to be in the country for weather, but this summer there was a huge Pinelands forest fire and one of my friends had to be evacuated.
But I agree with Jaded Empath, if you have generally good weather, when you get bad weather, it kills people.
“Farewell Angelina,
the sky is on fire
and I must go…”
Glad you and your beloved ones are safe!
OT: I finished The Geek – absolutely wonderful! “Barefoot” is next and I hope “Happiest Days” will be available soon in Europe.
Bests,
Nicole aka Louffi
Stay safe, Wil.
Pics?
I don’t know, I remember regular 2nd stage and occasional 3rd stage smog alerts and it still didn’t look like this.
All the same, i’ts pretty surreal, also I don’t think these fires are going away anytime soon, even if the Santa Anas go away they will be fighting them for a good while.
We just moved out here and this is my first fire season. Even though we’re nowhere near any of the actual places that are ablaze, I can’t get over how much it smells like smoke even here.
Here’s to all of us staying safe.
My brother lives in Sacramento, but his daughter goes to UCLA. My parents are flying out from Newark today and their plans include a trip to LA to visit their granddaughter. My Dad was a little concerned about the fires keeping them from seeing her. Does anyone
know if this might be a problem?
Hey, instead of inhaling all that lovely smog, why not come up to Toronto? 🙂 Although we do get our own smog alerts in the summer, the cool weather in Autumn tends to disperse the pollution and leave a cool and calm atmosphere. It’s absolutely beautiful up here and we’d love to have ya!! 🙂
That’s one thing to be said for Northwest Washington. Not much danger of runaway fire. Well, most of the time, anyway. Eastern Washington (which is a desert, believe it or not) gets some forest fires sometimes, but the rest of us are far too damp. Also, no smog. Which is nice. If you don’t mind the rain.
Stay safe, California. Be well.
Hi
I’m in San Diego County. Try breathing down here.
It’s scary. Everything we have that is important is packed next to the door or already in the car. I’ve been e-mailing and calling family and friends all over the country to let them know we are ok. The people here are calm, resourceful, helpful and compassionate. We know where to go as soon as we get an evacuation notice. We will get through this.
How’s Ferris? He’s got to go outside to at least relieve himself.
Since I only live 15 minutes from Stone Mountain Georgia, I frequently hike to the top. Back when South Georgia was on fire, I made the mistake of doing that — couldn’t even see the Atlanta skyline, much less the surrounding area through all that smoke. Oh yeah, the county told us we couldn’t take our kids out for recess either!
If it makes you feel better, we’re having really spectacular sunsets here in the Midwest, thanks to the burning in California.
Okay, maybe that’s not a good thing in the long run.