Barb Caffrey's Blog

Folks, I only lived in Northern California for a few years, but while I was there I noticed the weather patterns. (My late husband Michael had lived there for decades, so we talked about this from time to time.) In the summer, Los Angeles (LA) has a Mediterranean climate. In the fall, usually there are big rainstorms where sometimes homes not only can get flooded, but mudslides can take homes completely off their foundations. In the winter, the winds kick up, and if there’s been sufficient rain over the past nine months or so, there’s a lesser chance to have fires.

That’s not the situation right now.

California has been experiencing slightly different but much worse weather patterns in the fall and winter, partly because there hasn’t been enough rain during the previous months to do any good. So, with drought conditions, fires can start very quickly, and get very, very bad almost as the drop of a hat.

What caused the awful fires that have been going on now for about a week is a combination of factors, but the fact the region was in a drought is the main problem here. I call it “Hell on Earth” because whole blocks of residences are just plain, flat gone.

And the fires aren’t done yet.

There’s so much ash in the atmosphere in LA that some folks have said it looks kind of like snow. (Too bad it’s not. There is some moisture in snow.) The winds are unpredictable, awful, and the fires seem to be going every which way.

I’ve seen some politicians complain that the Democratic Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, might’ve done better here. I think that’s unfair criticism. The Mayor of LA, Karen Bass, also has been heavily criticized, with rumors going around that she’s fired the fire chief (untrue) and other such nonsensical things.

Look. Even if any of the criticism is remotely true, it is irrelevant. These people could have done everything right, and this still would’ve happened.

Why? It comes down to climate, weather patterns, and a worse than usual drought system. It’s a perfect storm of badness. Add those high winds, and you get chaos.

You get Hell on Earth.

Some in this world don’t seem to understand just how expensive it is to own real estate in any part of California, much less a usually extremely desirable location like LA. A $5.5M dollar home might be a $400,000 home somewhere else. (Under the current, inflated prices most people have to deal with.) A modest lot with a home on it is insanely expensive in California, especially in LA or San Francisco or San Diego.

People have lost everything they’d ever worked for. Some were retirees. Some were still in the workforce and were middle class or perhaps even lower middle class (if they’d inherited their home or a whole family had bought it together). By no means were all of the people affected movie stars, wealthy people who can buy everything they need at any time…no, most of the people were regular sorts.

Some of those who’ve died…one man was trying to get his son, who was severely disabled, out of the house and couldn’t do it. Another man was trying to save his house and refused to leave when the firefighters told him he had to go, and was found with a hose in his hand. Others died because the winds shifted so quickly, they could not get out.

The death toll right now, I think, stands at something like twenty-four people. That number’s only going to go up, and it could go way, way up depending on whether they can get any of the three major fires going on well contained. So far, they haven’t been able to do that, though there has been progress.

Still. The fire and police departments out there are working as much as they can — 12 hours on, 12 hours off — to help people. All sorts of people have come out of the woodwork to help, including the man I recommended to you all, actor Steve Gutenberg, helping others in whatever ways they can. (Jimmy Kimmel, on his nightly program on ABC, called Gutenberg “a national treasure” tonight. Rightfully so.)

These people will need enormous amounts of money and time and help. I hope they get it all. No one wants this. Even the politicians blaming other politicians, which I wish would not be happening during this crisis (save the kvetching until the fires are completely out, please!), do not want this. Devastation like this usually is only seen in wars.

Again, I hope these folks who’ve lost everything are able to rebuild and recover and restore their lives. I also hope those who have been injured fighting the fires will fully recover, and that the poor souls who couldn’t get out in time will be mourned.

It is our duty as human beings to help others that are hurting whenever we can. Those of us far from the action, who can’t go and feed people, and who can’t donate clothes (not in time to get there), but want to do something need to look at places like legitimate animal rescues (as many pets have been separated from their owners and need to be housed and fed and cared for) along with whatever the Los Angeles Fire Department recommends.

It may be — is — Hell on Earth out there. But we have to try to make it better if we possibly can, because as the saying goes, “There but for the grace of God go I.”