As I write this, California – and much of the West – is engulfed in flames. If ever one wanted a look into what Hell must be, just look at some of the news coverage of the raging forest fires currently devouring millions of acres of land as well as hundreds of homes, businesses and other structures.
At this point in this catastrophe, there are 17 dead and 16 people missing, but officials say they believe these numbers will increase as the flames continue their deadly path. The scope of the devastation is hard to believe. Of 29 California fires, six are in the top 20 of the largest in state history.
Raging forest fires in California are nothing new; in fact, late fall is considered "fire season." What is different about what is happening this year is that there has been a confluence of deadly events.
There have been the terrifically hot temperatures – 121 degrees in Los Angeles Sunday. In the San Francisco area, it was over 100 degrees in many cities – at my house last week it was 104 at 9 in the morning.
Then there was the erratic and freak lightning storm. Officials report that there were 14,000 lightning strikes over a period of 72 hours – causing sparks that have started fires and kept them burning. No rain, just lightning, and it was deadly.
And the coup de grace, so to speak, was (is) the fact that the woodlands are filled with dead trees, dead underbrush and dry grasses.
This dry tinder produces more heat energy as it burns, and the super-heated air creates an updraft of its own, which spreads the burning ash. It turns into what firefighter's call "firenadoes" – only seen in the last few years but which are happening more and more often with deadly effects.
U.S. Forest Service forester Steve Lohr said, "The fires are behaving in such a way that we've not seen."
There were two firenadoes this week in the Creek Fire that closed the road at the Mammoth Pool Reservoir in the California Sierra and trapped 214 campers. They had to be airlifted out by military helicopters.
The August Complex Fire in California is a conglomeration of 30 separate fires torching more than 471,000 acres.
There are more than 100 wildfires across 12 Western states burning more than 3.4 million acres, destroying towns and killing people.
Of course, at this point, there is no estimate on the numbers of animals – both domestic, farm and wild, that have been killed by the fierce flames. I don't even want to contemplate that.
There is no rain in the forecast, but there is the prediction of wind – the "Diablo" winds in the North and the "Santa Ana" winds in the South. They are hot, dry winds from the desert to the ocean and can reach hurricane-force speeds. Add them to the flames and the horror continues.
Of course, as the fires burn, environmentalists are spouting their usual mantra that it's all because of "climate change." What they will not admit, is that over the years they have been totally against clearing the forests of the dead wood and dried brush that feeds the fires.
After a long drought, the forests are filled with dry brush. The attack of the pine beetle killed millions of trees environmentalists refused to have removed. It's estimated that after the current five years of drought, there are 140 million dead trees in California forests – but the Greens will not let them be removed.
Now, the trees are burning and killing, but you will not hear a word from the environmental movement about their having any degree of responsibility in this devastation. And you will not hear any politicians bringing up that subject – even the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, continues to protect the very people who are responsible for the devastation.
Keep in mind, this man hopes someday to run for president of this country. He has long had this on his "to do" list.
Having grown up in the country – with our house in the woods – the threat of forest fires was something that was ever present. I remember a big fire on the other side of town when I was young, and just the idea of it, the smell of smoke, the sound of sirens and the fear among our neighbors, made an impression on me that has lasted all these years.
Another incident that made a deep impression on me – my school burned down when I was in the fourth grade. For years, I wasn't even able to look at the word "fire" without getting chills of fear.
Now, living in a county surrounded by fires and anticipating the possibility of having to evacuate, I admit, I'm filled with fear. It's hard to know how to deal with this, but it is reality and there's no way to avoid it.
Except to pray – for rain.
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