Ash Thursday
These are a couple of pictures I took near our house yesterday. Just on the other side of those mountains are some of the fires in Orange county (Santiago canyon area). During the first days of the fires, the winds were blowing eastward which resulted in the smell of smoke and traces of ash all throughout our community. Since then, the winds have been blowing westward. Nevertheless, smoke has covered all of our blue skies giving us a sun and a moon (second picture–I took that about 8:00pm last evening) that looks something like a glowing orange. Today, there is a very orange haze covering our skies. Our kids go to school in the OC and MAN, the air is pure crap! In fact, the school kept all of them in class for recess.
**UPDATE** The first picture looks nothing like it does now. Either the fires are moving deeper in the Cleveland National Forest (those mountains you see), or the winds have shifted.
**UPDATE 2** The smell of smoke is back in the air. Looking at the fire map, this is coming from the Santiago fire in the Mission Viejo area.
**UPDATE 3** Smoke and falling ash has totally taken over our part of the city. My car is covered with ash.
**UPDATE 4** My wife got a call from the county fire department. They are planning for a possible evacuation. Local talk radio has been blowing up because some of the truth is starting to come out regarding state bureaucracy and our preparedness for fire. For example, Orange county has only 2 helicopters for the whole county—Vietnam-era helicopters.
I just took this one (below) about 2 hours ago (2:20 PST)
