Thank You for Not Smoking...

This morning, I woke up in the pre-dawn hours and sniffed the air a bit and got concerned that my apartment was on fire.  But when it clicked in that the smoke alarms weren't going off, I realized that my place was okay -- but maybe another building nearby was in trouble.  I didn't hear any fire trucks though, so I couldn't be sure.  But it was certainly odd.

Falling back off to sleep, when I woke up later, I still smelled smoke and kept trying to figure out where it was coming from and caused by.  It was almost like growing up back in Chicago and raking leaves in the fall and burning them.  Anyway, I had an early appointment and went down to my car -- to see it looked dustier than I expected.  I had a car wash a couple weeks ago, so I figured maybe the air was especially dirty the past week.

And then I put on the car radio.  Ohhhh, okay.  There's a massive wildfire burning out of control in Ventura, which is only about a 2 to 2-1/2 hour drive from here.

It sounds awful, lots of damage.  No risk here in West L.A., but big problems there.  I have some friends who live in the nearby area, though it seems out of the danger range -- but I'm sure conditions are horrible.  I hope firefighters are able to get it contained soon.

In fact I just called one my friend who lives close to the fire and smoke area.  He said they haven't had to evacuate yet and things are fine for their house, noting, "We can't even see the fire from here," though he then laughed and added, "Of course we can't see the hills around us either..."

By the way, before returning home, I stopped for gas and cleaned the windshield and back window. That was about an hour ago. Just moments ago I had to go and get something out of my car -- the windows already were covered with dust.

But that at least explains things.
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