Why Fires Scare Me

The blaze ballooned from about 15 acres at 5:30 p.m. Friday to 600 acres by 9 p.m

This is a fire that is burning in a town near where the sanctuary is located. It's currently at 850 acres and uncontained. We had a strange weather front move in that brought with it powerful winds, a stark contrast to the 100+ F weather we've had the past few days. I fell asleep last night thinking the weather was perfect fire weather (dry lightning + gusty winds = yay for fire, boo for some of us).

It's just so amazing that in under four hours, a fire can go from 15 acres to 600, 40 times its original size. When that's near 200 animals, it's a little more than frightening, it's petrifying. Thankfully that isn't the case here, but it's a reminder that even in a cool weather, even with a bit of rain, in California fire is an enormous danger (and August is one of our worst months for fires).