Cloudy with a Chance of Blazing Death

Every region has its natural disasters - the northeast gets its nor'easters and an occasional hurricaine or other cold/wet weather related calamity. And it seems like wherever you are born, you get both well-trained to deal with that area's most prevalent acts of god and you become a little immune to them as well. Last winter, people I knew were forced off the grid when a giant snow storm knocked out most power and communication lines in western/central Massachusetts. A big snow or rain storm may not seem to frightening to those who live in hot, dry regions, but people die every winter in New England from the storms - from exposure, collapsed roofs or car accidents. But I've been trained from birth - what to have at home in the cupboard, what to have in the car, and when to just sit tight and wait it out.

So if your disaster is of the wet or cold type, I'm all over it. In fact, I'll probably make fun of you for rushing to the Stop n Shop to stock up on bread and milk. But hot and fiery disasters... I am not prepared for these and I find them kind of distressing. Especially when they are burning through thousands of acres of brush that hasn't burned for 40 years and when I can't remember the last time it rained here and when they are sending creepy black smoke mushroom clouds across most of the area. Yeah, distressing.

But most everyone here seems to be taking it in stride. On the KTLA weather this morning, they just added happy little cartoon flames in the areas where this massive, uncontained fire doubled in size overnight. I know these are outliers, because local newscasts are sensational dreck, but they reported a bar owner near the blaze who was staying open and handing out facemasks to patrons and a couple who decided to "ride it out" in their hot tub.

To me, this seems crazy in the face of such a dangerous, unpredicatable force of nature. I understand, logically, that there are actually people trained to contain these fires and keep people safe while there's no one to stop the onslaught of a giant snowstorm back East... I also know, logically, that it's highly unlikely the fire will come anywhere close to my home or office while there's really no escaping a big nor'easter for miles and miles.. but there's something so much more unsetlling about this unfamiliar threat.