I’ve been hearing all the news, of course, about the fires in various parts of the country, but it doesn’t hit home with full impact until you look out of the windshield of your car and realize that those roiling masses in the sky aren’t clouds, but smoke. We heard the first sirens and saw the first firetrucks when we were leaving the restaurant at lunch, and when we saw the smoke clouds were coming from somewhere down Convict Hill from the house, we had to investigate. We didn’t try and get too close, that’s as big a hazard as the fire itself if you block the road from the rescue personnel, but it was close enough to see the awesome calamity that had been unleashed. To see the smoke billowing up like that, changing colors from black to white to peach to gold as it filled the sky was incredible to watch. These are the best of my shots.

fire behind the ACC building

Varicolored plumes

There's something stirring about this shot...

I was very glad it was on the other side of 290 from us. My heart goes out to all those who lost their homes.