We've got fires all around us, but not near us. Lots of smoke though, reason I'm not in class tonight. There are fires going on in Santa Clarita, Castaic, Agua Dulce, Malibu, Santa Paula, and many parts of San Diego are burning too. I have many friends down in San Diego on madatory and voluntary evacs. My area is pretty safe, fire-wise but it is really hard to breath outside.

We go through these things every year but this was pretty frigtening considering how many fires sprouted up in one day. Last time we delt with something this big was about 4 years ago. The Simi Valley fire (I live in Simi Valley... my city was pretty much surrounded as was our neighbor city, Moorpark) was huge and after it many people and animals came down with what came to be known as Valley Fever. This was caused by the burnt areas exposing and aerosolizing a bacteria that is usually burried under the chapparal. Please, if you are around here, stay inside as much as you can and keep your pets inside. One of my dogs, Daisy Mae, almost died after that fire from Valley Fever. She couldn't eat, had serious diarhea and was severely dehydrated requiring two days of IV fluids. Be careful in these burn areas!!!