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Sep. 29th, 2005 07:50 pmThe fires are beginning to make national news. My office is less than a kilometer from where it started and where it's still burning the least predictably. The parking lot was covered with a fine white ash, and those of us with respiratory problems were having trouble breathing even inside with air conditioning.
As with Katrina, it's the poor that are being hardest hit. Not because homes are threatened, although I did see one man out watering his roof, but because they have to wait for buses or ride bikes. It's dangerous to breathe all the particulate matter, but they have no choice.
At work, they're making gentle fun of the East Coast girl who's so frightened of a brush fire. There are over three thousand fire fighters working on it; it's only 5% contained; it's consumed 17,500 acres in 24 hours. No human lives have been lost, and no one is stupid about following the evacuation orders.
There are shelters for humans, shelters for pets, and shelters for large animals. It's organized, although gleaning the relevant information from the newscasts is very difficult. Worse, no one's updating the websites for those of us who have no way of hearing or seeing the news.
As with Katrina, it's the poor that are being hardest hit. Not because homes are threatened, although I did see one man out watering his roof, but because they have to wait for buses or ride bikes. It's dangerous to breathe all the particulate matter, but they have no choice.
At work, they're making gentle fun of the East Coast girl who's so frightened of a brush fire. There are over three thousand fire fighters working on it; it's only 5% contained; it's consumed 17,500 acres in 24 hours. No human lives have been lost, and no one is stupid about following the evacuation orders.
There are shelters for humans, shelters for pets, and shelters for large animals. It's organized, although gleaning the relevant information from the newscasts is very difficult. Worse, no one's updating the websites for those of us who have no way of hearing or seeing the news.
