Smoke

From high points in Hermosa we can see the smoke, but our view is nowhere near as incredible as what's captured in this time lapse video. (The Station Fire is about 50 miles away.) We had a brief scare with fire in nearby Palos Verdes on Friday, but that was fortunately quickly contained.

Friends who don't live in LA always ask when there's a fire that makes national news--"Is the smoke bad?"  While it's never as bad as it can be in the valley where the ash gets trapped, we've had the snowing ash and thick air with other fires when the strong Santa Ana winds are blowing out to sea from the desert.  This time, the breezes are flowing from the ocean so the air is quite clear here even though the smoke can be seen in the distance.

There was an incredible sight driving to meet friends for dinner on Friday night...through the darkness, the edges of mountains far off in the distance were covered in streaks of bright orange--appearing almost exactly the same as the flowing lava I photographed in Hawaii three years ago. But I was only 2 miles away from the lava. It's awe inspiring how a nearly 50 mile difference in perspective can make two very different reigns of fire appear almost exactly the same.