SHE'S A POWERFUL FORCE -- NATURAL DISASTERS

[username]

Chimneys are all that remain of the houses in this neighborhood.

It's shaping up to be the most destructive wildfire in California history.

And therein lies the difference. The fire pictured above and (maybe others) devastated city areas. Suburbs. When the collective "we" think of wildfires, they're out in the hills, possibly dotted by small cities but this fire has taken homes...it's like my house burning down. Absurd (except from the inside)! I'm surrounded by other homes and streets; I feel very immune but that's a fallacy. I don't know how the Santa Rosa fire started but the truth is, I have a barren hill (except for the mountain lions) less than a ¹⁄₄ of a mile away.

In the area of Santa Rosa....IIRC, on the west side of our major thoroughfare (Hwy 101) there are some fields, pastures etc. Again, I don't know where any of the fires started specifically but I know one jumped Hwy 101; the east side of that same freeway is homes and neighborhoods. So many people affected in this one who probably thought "never'.