This is a picture I snapped right outside the office building one morning before work while the fires were in full force. Although this picture does not depict the fierceness of the fire pictures in this forum thread, it was still very eerie and sad to drive from blue sky into a thick, orange, dense cloud of smoke that smothered out the sun. Co-workers told of fires they had seen on local street corners as they had driven to work, started by stray embers from the "big fires" nearby. One of the big ones around here was started by arson; during lunch one day I saw the spot where it was started. Although we don't have crazy weather here in Southern California, marked by hurricanes and tornadoes and freezing winters and hot summers, we have had a mild share of calamity recently.