I know there are a few of us on here who live in California. Just checking in to see how everyone is getting by. The air quality here is HORRIBLE. The sky here is smokey and we have a health advisory in our county. For those of you who don't know, A fire started on June 8, 2008 in Monterey County which was started by a camp fire. SO far over 50,000 acres have burned and the fire is about 41% contained. Cal Fire said 700 fires are burning across the state.Many were sparked by lightning strikes over the weekend in Northern California. Prayers go out to all the firefighters and their families.

I'm tucked right up at the tip of the bay, so I'm safe since I'm well into the city area and at least 35miles from fire, but basically surrounded by either fire or water.  The air is absolutely awful.  I'm not "sensitive" to air quality and still have a sore dry throat and watery puffy eyes.  I don't remember it being this bad in previous summers (this will be my 3rd in the area).  Pretty scary.

Hope it is stopped soon, that's very scary! My husband was a volunteer fireman in our small town for quite a few years,I went to a grass fire with him 0ne time and said never again. That fire was no where close to what you guys are going through. Our thoughts and prayers are with you .

 It's pretty awful here (nothern Nevada) too.  All the smoke from the over 800 fires is blowing into the valley.  Washoe County has issued a "Stage 2" air pollution alert - visibility is usually ~40 miles, while today it's about ~2 miles.  It doesn't look like there's any change in the weather pattern until Friday, so maybe there will be some improvement then.

Also, many summer brush crews, firefighters and equipment from Nevada are headed to CA to help, so maybe they can start getting a handle on these fires.  Not a good way to "celebrate" the one year anniversary of the Angora Fire (last year's big fire in Tahoe).

I hope everyone stays safe! 

Unfortunately we are getting reports that the Friday-ish (Thurs, Fri, or Sat) weather change/system is likely to bring us Nor and Central Californians dry lightening which will only start more fires :(

 We missed the dry lightening here. Today is a lot better air quality wise. We have that little bit of a breeze off the coast so it's a bit clearer today. Not a great way to start fire season! Here is a link that shows all of the fires burning throughout Ca.

http://calfire.blogspot.com/2008/06/fires-burning-in-california-image-of.html

 I feel sooo bad for you guys out there. I know what it's like to have to deal with a fire. Year befor last, I was evacuated for the Pine barren fire here in Jersey that burned almost 2,000 acres, I think it was more but not sure. It was scarry. My thoughts and prayers are with you.