Friday, September 22, 2006

Where there's smoke, there's. . .no news?

UPDATE: There are not one, not two, not three, but FOUR fires in the county, totaling more than 5,500 acres. And the winds are gusting at 50 mph. Ick.


So much for 24-hour news.

I've been smelling smoke all night, a pleasant aromatic smoke carried on strong winds. Eventually, though, it became too strong and carried on too long for us to ignore, so at 4:20 a.m. Mr. Trillwing and I went outside to investigate.

And holy hell, it appears the world has burned up. The air is dingy. The lights in the parking lot reveal thick white smoke. It was hard to breathe, and ash clotted in my eyes. After one minute outdoors, I'm still laboring a bit for breath.

So Mr. Trillwing turns on the TV, and I start checking all the news sites. Nada.

We closed the bedroom window (the only open window), and yet everything in the apartment, especially the bedroom, smells of smoke.

It's going to be a great day.

How are things where you are?

5 comments:

Dr. Brazen Hussy said...

The opposite - pouring down rain.

Did you ever find out what was on fire?

Anonymous said...

seriously? I hadn't heard about this.

Anonymous said...

On fire. Actually, it's not as bad actually on campus (UCLA)as it is where you are, but there are headaches to be had after walking outdoors. Angeles Crest is on fire, as is something called the Days Fire (Not sure exactly where it is but it's nearby and has been burning for about 16 days.) 10s of thousands of acres between them, about 40% containment, and the Santa Ana winds (gone for a mere couple of days) will be back tomorrow.

California in September.

Say hi to Mr. Trillwig and my love to the boy. (Happy belated, Luke.)

Jeff Mather said...

It's a beautiful here. Sunny. Blue skies. Mid-70s. Green grass. Scattered, fluffy clouds. The New England leaves are just beginning to turn. You really can't imagine a nicer day.

NPR had a 20-second spot on the Southern California fires this morning.

Honeybee said...

I turned on one of the morning news shows around 8am and the first thing I saw was a report on the fires. The news websites had nada, which was the first place I went.

I blamed my fiance's smoking habit for the campfire smell this morning. Ooops!

Also, bicycling to lab today with the 30mph winds? Really sucks. (Blows?)