A Tornado of Fire

Today the fires in California are rumbling. The environment screams as the heat-stirred Santa Ana winds howl through the rocks and trees.

Southern California is one of the greatest places I've called home. For the several years I lived in the Los Angeles area, I grew to love the mountains and deserts and beautiful cities and homes in California from San Diego and north.

Now it is a federal disaster area. Idaho volunteers are leaving today to help fight the war against the fire storm. A million people have fled their homes. Five deaths have been reported. From shacks in the countryside to multi-level palatial houses, thousands have lost everything they owned. Now they wait for time to pass in temporary shelters, aching for it all to end and for a life they'll never be able to resume to come back to them.

Why did this disaster happen? Hot, dry conditions with plenty to burn and the relentless blowing of the wind are the main factors. Human beings may have started some of the fires, for reasons we may never know.

Abuse it, try to manipulate it, get angry at it. Doesn't matter. The environment will do what it must do.