The reports about the wildfire in Ventura remind me of a fire I experienced up close about two years ago. That fire was a little bit more inland, around 30 miles east of LA. For several days, the whole area was covered in an apocalyptic cloud of smoke… you could barely see the sun. It was really eerie. Ash was raining down for days, turning the water in swimming pools completely black & covering everything in a greyish film of dirt… people were running around with masks on their faces. A friend of mine called me at 2 AM on a Saturday night saying he was evacuating his home. Many people lost their homes, but my friend got lucky – fire fighters were able to stop the blaze a few feet away from his house.
Seeing such inferno up close gives you a whole new appreciation for news like this…