I find it surreal to have the huge Station Fire burning out of control at the east end of Los Angeles County, and here we sit near the west end of the county with basically clean air.
It is 4:30 PM, and I just checked the Los Angeles County Fire Department website for the latest stats. The fire covers 134 square miles, and has burned 105,000 acres! This is large, even by SoCal standards!Â
And yet, in the Conejo Valley, I can almost forget that a behemoth fire rages not too far away. Occassionally, I can smell it in the air, or feel it in my lungs if I am outside, but thosei are the only indications of it, unless I am driving on the 101 Freeway. Then I see the incredible pyrocumulus cloud formed by the wildfire.Â
Pyrocumulus is a word I heard for the first time on TV two days ago to describe the smoke cloud. The  cloud is fluffy and white, but instead of the usual horizontal shape, it is upright and you can see it has a source on the ground. Then I guess some winds buffet the cloud, and the edges loose their fluffiness and turn flat and change from white to beige. I just looked the word up in Wikipedia, and in the entry, there is a photo of the Station Fire, and this definition: “A dense cumuliform cloud associated with fire or volcanic activity.”Â
My prayers are with those affected by all the wildfires in SoCal. For the latest fire information, go to the L.A. County Fire Department website: http://www.fire.lacounty.gov/
Posted by Janna Orkney
Jeanne Cope // Sep 1, 2009 at 5:21 PM
Here it is only August and we have a huge wild fire raging. While fire is a necessary element in maintaining a balance in wildlife here: it is had the fathom the hardship and tragedies that result from its fury. May we have relief soon.