Hey, there's no smoking allowed in California!

How creepy is this image: NASA satellite imagery of the Cali wildfires, the smoke blowing out to sea. You'll notice on the map that the ones north of L.A. are less intense. Late last night I drove up through the Santa Clarita Valley toward Castaic, seeing if there were any glowing hillsides left to capture on film. Not only had the Santa Ana winds begun dying down, but there wasn't much left to see. The fire behind Magic Mountain was completely contained; the streets were quiet. (That blaze was started by a welder's torch -- couldn't they slap a moratorium on welding torches, bunsen burners, and all other open flame until the fires are out?)

On the way back to L.A., I passed a line of fire trucks heading down Interstate 5. The last one was from Aptos/La Selva Fire, which is located just south of Santa Cruz, so there's an idea of how far away firefighters are coming from to help out. It was also nostalgic for me, because I used to cover that department several years ago as a reporter with the Watsonville Register-Pajaronian. Aptos is likewise a firefighting nightmare, a wooded, seaside area with narrow, winding roads creeping up into the hills and houses shrouded by brush. Perhaps with that experience they should have turned east to help out on the narrow roads in the San Bernardino Mountains, where fires are still raging out of control, but help anywhere from anyone is definitely appreciated.

Today the ash has really begun to rain down like snow, and there's a hazy, brownish cast everywhere. My asthma's off the charts, like everybody else in L.A. But crud all over my car and a few inhaler puffs are small potatoes compared to what San Diegans are going through right now. Our prayers are with everyone, and a special thought out to my friend Angie, on the breaking news team at the Union-Tribune down there.

UPDATE: Fox News just said Lake Arrowhead was in Riverside County. God love local news coverage that actually gets geography straight!!