The Thousand Oaks Shooting and the CA fires
Hi everyone. I hope that everyone on here is safe.
First of all, I would like to send out my condolences to the friends and families of the victims of the Borderline shooting. I did not personally know anyone there, but I still want to offer my condolences.
Second, as you may or may not have heard, many parts of California are on fire right now. The camp fire is wrecking a town in Northern California while the hill and Woolsey fires are wreaking havoc all along Southern California. I don’t believe I have mentioned this before, but I live in a neighboring city to Thousand Oaks. The Woolsey fire started several miles from my house. I am safe, as of now, and it does not look like my house is in danger, but these fires are so unpredictable it is hard to be sure.
For those people who do not live in places with large wildfires and have not experienced them, it is like hell. The smoke can get so thick that it looks like night in the middle of the day and the sky turns red or orange. The air quality is one of the worst things I’ve ever experienced, and everyone everywhere wears masks, as you e probably seen on the news. One thing no one ever mentions is the ash. When you’re underneath a cloud of smoke, ash falls out of the sky. It looks like it’s snowing, except it turns everything it touches black and dirty. These fires are a major problem even if you’re not threatened by the fire itself because of all the other problems it causes.
Just a couple of tips and reminders:
1) If you are under mandatory evacuation, leave. Those orders are there for a reason. Even if you’re house won’t be burned, you can still get in the way of emergency crews trying to stop the fires.
2) Do not try to fight large fires yourself. Once they reach a certain size, nothing a few people do will be able to stop it. Leave that to the professionals and get yourself to safety.
3) This may seem obvious, but take your pets with you. They cannot survive a fire any better than you can, so don’t leave them behind.
4) Be prepared. Have an emergency plan, take all important medical/documents with you, and stay aware of where the fire is and where to find the emergency shelters. This can help get you out faster and be less panicked in the moment.
Check here for updated information on the fires.
I hope everyone out there is safe.
