Fires in Northern California

It is absolutely terrible, the amount of fires that are in California at this time.  The worst are in Napa, Sonoma and Santa Rosa.  The loss of houses, lives and devastation is horrific.  I was in Sonoma Sunday to have lunch with my friend Joel, and I left Sonoma driving on Arnold Drive.  When I got to Glen Ellen, the road to Hwy 12 was closed due to some sort of street fair they were having, so I had to double back to Madrone and take that over to Hwy 12.  Later that night, there was a devastating fire caused by heavy winds and downed power lines that totally engulfed and burned out many neighborhoods, including ones I drove past on Sunday.

So my friends Joel and Toni are currently safe in Sonoma, but have bags packed in case they get called to evacuate.  My sister Judy, niece Jenny, cousins Joyce and Vicki are all safe so far, but they have no power, phone service, etc. and even though surrounding areas are being evacuated, they are currently safe. 

There are a couple of fires just outside of Ukiah here, and Sunday Scott asked us to help him evacuate our friend's dogs and cars, as they are out of town on vacation.  So those items are safe, but the fires around here continue to burn.  It is just horrible seeing the loss of lives (10 so far) and homes lost during these fires.  The losses in Santa Rosa are heartbreaking, Kaiser hospital was evacuated, and the fire jumped the freeway.  I heard there was also a fire near Paul and Cherie in Clear Lake Oaks, but they are safe also.  I sent a message to my landlord who lives in Santa Rosa and he answered back that they are all safe so far.

It is so scary how quickly someone or something can be gone due to fires.  So very scary..  I thank God that we are all safe.  Homes can be replaced, but people cannot.