What a mess it is here in San Diego. When I woke up this morning, I knew there was a new fire, but I never knew it would be so devastating. Over 115,000 acres have burned within the last 24 hours including a couple hundred homes and there are at least 10 fatalities. And to make it all worse, they think these fires have been intentionally started. What a shame.

As I left for work this morning, there was an eerie grey cloud over southern San Diego and as I travelled North, it cleared up quite nicely. Images 9-11 were taken from Carlsbad, all others taken near my apartment here in San Diego (Clairmont area). As I headed back from work (travelling South, luckily - as the Northbound lanes were packed solid), I once again re-entered the smoke cloud. I took a couple detours and found my way closer to the fire using side streets and freeways that were closed to the general public (kind of - the 805 South was closed at the 5/805 split, but open if you used side-streets). I saw a couple flare ups, but nothing major, though I could see the main fire not far away on the other side of a hill.

It's just been a crazy day here in San Diego - the worst fires I've ever known of - and according to television, the worst in 30+ years. Such a sad day ... lost homes, lost lives, lost pets, lost memories ...

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