Fires...

There were several fires close by to the north, south & west. Of course, as an intern, I don't ever have time to watch tv, so I didn't really know what was going on until I saw the smoke & it started to affect the hospital (we got a lot of evacuees from other hospitals that had to close). The day they started, I was on call at the hospital & was sitting outside to eat dinner. I could smell smoke & thought someone was barbecuing nearby, but was informed otherwise.

The first picture is taken from my bedroom balcony at the start of the fires. The smoke line was obvious that day. By the next morning, however, the smoke was everywhere, so you couldn't see any blue sky. Ismael & I had gone outside to play, but the smell of smoke & the ash falling like snow from the sky kept us indoors for the next week or so. Afterwards, I had to spray down the patio with water to get rid of the layer of ash.

This is taken about a block from my house. The smoke is arising about a mile from where they store the weapons on base at Camp Pendleton. Luckily, that's as close as it got. There were 2 fires on base, one of which closed down the I-5 (a major highway between LA & San Diego) & the other was near the back gate (where I go in & out of base).

This picture is about a week after they started. Most fires were out by this time & the skies were starting to clear.