This morning, I awoke to a red dawn with a ringed sun tinged from the smoke of the fires raging through LA. One prevalent feature of living in Southern California is fire. The terrain and climate create perfect conditions for the world to light up around us. Fire is a natural part of the Mediterranean climate that defines our habitat. The first Sunday of each month, I have conversations with folks visiting the Rosemont Preserve about the adaptability of our native plants. The Coastal Oak has a thick trunk that is fire resistant and I tell visitors to look for the Oak that survived the Station Fire in 2009. Black Sage is known as a fire follower meaning that it germinates best with either heat or a deep freeze. To germinate black sage at home the most successful tactics are to either soak the seeds in liquid smoke (follow the link for non-bbq-ers) or throw them in the freezer for a few months. Other fire resistant plants include Yucca, Manzanita, California Buckwheat, Wooly Blue Curl among others as discussed in this LA Times article that also includes a shout out to JPL employee by trade, guerrilla gardener by avocation Roger Klemm and the Rosemont Preserve for their efforts in fire hardening my patch of the county.

It didn't take me long to be introduced to the delicate balance of our landscape. On the beach bus back to the Antelope Valley from Santa Monica a year into my stay, the bus was diverted to a canyon road because fire closed the 14. As we exited the freeway, fire was burning along the edges. Mildly panicked, I watched the TV for the next 24 hours. Fortunately, this fire was easily contained. The next year, on my way to Hawaii for a conference, we had to find a creative way to get to the airport--pre-smartphone--because fires had lit up early morning traffic in LA. Fortunately, our driver was experienced.

Then in 2009 came the Station Fire, at the time was the largest fire in Los Angeles County history with more more than 160,00 acres succumbing before it was brought under control. I was living in Santa Clarita Valley situated on the other side of the mountain. In the evenings, my neighbor John and I would go to the back of the property to watch fire arcing and raging, not knowing but hoping that it wouldn't come our way. Added was the concern that the library that I was slated to transfer to in a few months would not be standing when all was said and done. It was, but the first year was marked with after effects of ashes in unusual places causing unexpected problems.

Why the extreme fire dangers in recent years? In the last 5 years, we have only had one year that exceeded the average rain fall. This coupled with progressively hotter temperatures and single digit humidity spells F-I-R-E when the Santa Anas blow. It is not surprising that each fire season adds superlatives to the name as being now largest fire in LA city, LA County or California's history. While the La Tuna Fire (7,194 acres) made LA History in 2017 the Thomas Fire (281,000) was breaking the California record only to be broken by the Mendocino Complex Fire (589,12) by the time it was extinguished in early 2018. Last year's La Tuna fire raged in my immediate neighborhood- the the week following my ankle surgery. I experienced surreal claustrophobia as I lay on my sofa more or less immobile while first responders set up a command center in my nearby park, ash littered my balcony and I wondered how I might evacuate in my condition with my two cats.

Now, fire season 2018 is upon us with a vengeance. As the Santa Ana's rattled my windows and shook my apartment Wednesday night, I hoped beyond hope that we would come out on the other side relatively fire free. But those hopes lay on the ground in shards as first the Camp Fire, obliterating the town of Paradise, and then closer to home the Woolsey fire and even closer the Griffith Park fire lit up the newsfeed with one harrowing story after another. Now the Woolsey (80,000+) and the Camp Fires are reaching record levels of destruction. With 4 of our Libraries closed, colleagues living in impacted areas, smoke blanketing the city, and forecasts of more Santa Ana's on the way, my heart goes out to everyone in the path and the first responders trained and dedicated to ensuring that they minimize property damage and more importantly the number of lost lives.