Firestorm

Update Wednesday: Winds beginning to die down, many if not most fires contained in LA area and around San Diego, though danger persists in some areas. The figure of those being evacuated reported by AP may have been too high--but at close to half a million, it is still the largest in California history. Now questions are being asked about preparedness on the federal level as well as local fire department resources, and the effects of drought, which in turn are predicted outcomes of global heating.

Update: As of Tuesday evening, an estimated 1 million people or more are being evacuated, making this the largest forced movement of Americans since the Civil War. Fires are being reported now south of San Diego to the Mexican border, and the latest AP report suggests winds have not diminished:"If it's this big and blowing with as much wind as it's got, it'll go all the way to the ocean before it stops," said San Diego Fire Capt. Kirk Humphries. "We can save some stuff but we can't stop it."

The California Lt. Governor (a Democrat) is suggesting that efforts would be helped by the National Guard currently in Iraq instead of in the American West.


Southern California--basically a strip a couple of hundred miles long from around Los Angeles to beyond San Diego--is beset by fire, fueled by the stronger than usual Santa Ana winds, with gusts reaching hurricane velocities. The San Diego area has experienced the largest evacuation ever. At this hour, some half million people along that strip have been displaced.

This is one of the most affluent areas in the U.S., so everything that can be brought to bear is being utilized. (Some of the differences between this disaster and New Orleans making an impact are suggested in this NY Times blog.) And because fires are endemic to this area, people who normally don't interact very much are used to working together and helping each other out in these emergencies.

As of Tuesday afternoon, there are reports that the winds have died down some, but the situation is still dangerous in many places. Forecasts suggest the worst may be over, but no one knows what the effects will be when the winds shift, as is expected in a day or two.

Meanwhile America is getting a graphic education in the power of fire. There are conditions special to southern CA involved in this firestorm, but drought in the west generally, and now in the southeast, makes something like this a danger well beyond southern California, for awhile to come.