Just got back from the Long Beach area where I visited my mother.
It was pretty awful to visit--my wife is asthmatic and as someone pointed out already, there was an ashfall Sunday--like living near a volcano. We looked down from our hotel room to the swimming pool just below our window and could see the entire pool covered with ash. The sky (even on the coast) was dirty grey, and the sun was dull orange. Needless to say, we stayed inside with the air conditioning.

Very nice to be back in the San Francisco Bay area with cool, clear air.

For those from other areas, the reason California suffers these fires is a combination of several reasons: drought, yes, but also bark beetle infestations, which have killed literally millions of trees. In addition, there are lots of hills and canyons which create opportunities for fires to rush uphill. Most of these fires occur in October, which in California tends to be very hot, and in Southern California there are the Santa Ana winds--winds up to 60 miles per hour sometimes that come from the east (i.e., from over very dry land). Actually, I guess these winds are in northern California too, as they were in the Oakland firestorm in 1991.

Shutting up now.

doug