Fires in CA

I am switching gears.

Before going to Vermont, I had heard about wildfires in CA as well as fires in the Everglades in Florida in the late spring. While we were in Vermont, I heard about all the wildfires in CA on National Public Radio, especially the one in Big Sur.

These wildfires have touched me in a way that I can quite explain here.

Rather than try to find wholly inadequate words to explain what is going on, for those of you are interested, here are some websites where you can find out more.

The Big Sur community has a website called surfire2008.org There is good blog with updates about the fires and a link for donations. A friend of mine from the region has assured me that the money will go to people who have lost their homes and possessions. And they take paypal and snail mail donations.

Here is another fire blog, this one by a woman who lives not far from the basin complex fire.

According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, there were 1,781 fires at the peak, 1,458 fires are contained, leaving 323 fires still burning. Over 675,000 acres have burned. Many but not all the fires were started by lightening.

This is a local television station, ksbw, that has newsupdates and links on a webpage devoted to the fires.