More than a thousand separate fires.
Danger of even more fires this weekend as "dry" storms are predicted.
Worst air pollution situation in years and it's spreading anywhere the wind blows.
This year's fire season is three weeks or so ahead of the usual. This will lead to dangerously overworked firefighters and firefighting equipment.
Google map:
http://www.oes.ca.gov/...
8:00 local time map:
http://www.fire.ca.gov/...
A little politics (Conservatives aren't big on paying for fire protection):
http://calitics.com/...
Governor Ahnold asks folks to not buy fireworks for Independence Day because of dangerous fire conditions. Groups decide to defy him because they can't think of other ways to raise money (well, more or less):
http://www.ocregister.com/...
I love the church lady:
"It's our best fundraiser of the year," she said. "The ones we sell are not the ones causing fires. It's the illegal ones that are the problem."
Insurance companies are stepping up and telling their agents not to sell fire insurance:
http://www.redbluffdailynews.com/...
They did this last year in southern California before the fall fire season hit.
Oregon is worried about the effects of its unusually wet spring and having its fire crews in California:
http://www.ktvz.com/...
So far I've been able to identify fire crews coming to California from Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Nevada and New Mexico. These fires are not a small, handled-by-the-locals problem.
You're going to breathe this stuff. Look at this NASA photo (see October 29, 2007) from the southern California fires of last fall:
http://www.nasa.gov/...
The current fires are in the forested areas of California, not the semi-desert areas.
Check the "Near Ashland" comment for a great satellite photo of smoky California. (Orj ozeppi)
The Hummingbird fire is contained. (Circle)
http://www.fire.ca.gov/...