The ashes cover ground along La Cienega...

Wake up and grab your bags.
California's burning to the ground.
Wake up and grab your things.
You and I are leaving Los Angeles...
Hey, burn it down! Burn it down!

You know, I've lived on both coasts, and I've also lived in landlocked states.
When I was planning to move to LA some months ago, I remember most being worried about earthquakes. The San Andreas Fault was something I remember hearing about frequently as a kid, and songs like Brandtson's "Earthquakes and Sharks" certainly add to the perception that at any moment, "the big one" could shake the entire state, life it up, and dump it into the sea like dustpan emptying itself of its contents.

My homestate didn't really have natural disasters to worry about, exactly. Lightning storms, sure, and the very, very, very rare tornado. And maybe a few inactive volcanoes litter the landscape. For the most part, though, natural disasters were something I read about in the news and saw in movies, and they terrified me but now that I don't live there anymore, I can see that it's probably one of the safest places to live if your only worry in life is whether or not Mother Nature will exact her revenge on you.

On the East Coast, I didn't have to deal with any real natural threats either. Rain was really my biggest concern, and about a year after I moved out that direction, a noreaster struck, rained out the coast for three days, and flooded plenty of basements. All it really made me realize was that living in a basement apartment, as much as people may romanticize the idea, is probably not all that smart.

But here in California, we have earthquakes. I remember being scared of them before I ever felt one, but it was months before I ever experienced a single shaker. And yet I was under the impression before that, that earthquakes happened much more often. I remember my first one vividly, too. It happened as I heard my neighbor stomping around in his apartment, and at first I thought he'd slammed something on the ground. Then I realized the whole place was shaking. I had to confirm with a friend on the phone whether or not what I'd just felt was an earthquake.

Really, though, quakes aren't that bad. Now that I've felt my fair share, they're almost a form of entertainment and excitement.

And then I realized what the real threat would probably be: wildfires.

OK, so my homestate also has their share of wildfires, and maybe that's why, as a child, I had a recurring nightmare about fire in my neighborhood. The nightmare went away after some time, but even today, I clearly remember what it looked and felt like to be in that dream, and I've had dreams since with similar themes.

They still terrify me.

I'm not afraid of fire itself, and in fact, I LOVE campfires and candles.
But wildfires, on the other hand, destroying acres and acres of forest and peoples' homes? Scary shit.
And in this past week, just northeast of LA, over 100,000 acres have burned down, the fires still haven't been put out, and I don't even know how many people have been evacuated from their homes.

So it's kind of ironic to me that when I moved to California, EARTHQUAKES were my biggest fear. I didn't even take into account my childhood phobia which is honestly and likely an even bigger threat.

But oh well, I'm dealing with it. I live in the middle of the city, not out in the hills, so I don't see wildfires ever becoming a problem here.

But hey Mr. (or Ms.) Arsonist: you're a jackass for starting this fire. Why, why, WHY did you do that? Do you really think you won't be found out?

Well, sadly, maybe you won't... After all, nothing cleanses quite like fire.

Smoke or Fire - California's Burning
Brandtson - Earthquakes and Sharks
Schoolyard Heroes - Nothing Cleanses Quite Like Fire