I live in Santa Monica, California, and as you can imagine, the last few days have been traumatic. We are lucky to live a couple of miles away from the fire zone and are not currently in any danger. But I know many people who were evacuated and some are still waiting to go back to their homes because the danger remains acute. Everyone I know knows someone whose house has burned; one of my closest friends lost everything and literally escaped with just the clothes on his back. We're all still on alert here waiting to see if the winds pick up as predicted next week, praying that the worst is behind us.
All natural disasters are frightening. I've been through a few earthquakes and one big hurricane. But I have to say that watching a firestorm threaten America's second-largest city right on my own doorstep is a particularly terrifying experience. These are the scenes we saw on every local television station in Los Angeles for the first 24 hours:
