It's burning

And by "it", I mean San Diego County. The whole thing, so far as I can tell. NPR is unclear, but there are either seven or eight fires burning, and all of them are 0% contained. Which is to say that none of them is in the least contained.

They've shut down an 8-10 lane freeway in hopes of keeping the fire from jumping it. I've had a couple of friends evacuated from their homes (one of them, frighteningly, couldn't get out of her neighborhood for a while; I spent quite a bit of time on the phone this morning checking roads and traffic for her and wishing her out of there -- she and her family are safe now). My university is shut down, as is the girls' school (and, in fact, most of the school districts around here). The air is starting to smell like smoke.

We should be OK here, which is nice, especially since R is out of town. I looked out my front window this morning, and a coyote was sitting on my front lawn. She didn't go anywhere, even when she saw me and the dog looking at her. I wanted to go out and give her water, but I didn't want the kitten to get out. I'm guessing she's evacuating, too.

The wind has been blowing all night. The air is so dry that my skin is chalky and puckered, even though I keep drinking water. It's gusty, and there's no moisture to be found; it's the worst possible conditions for fire-fighting, and I keep thinking about the folks out there who are trying to stop this mess. Another day I'll rant about living in places that are meant to burn, and how I'm not OK with expecting people to risk their lives protecting homes that shouldn't be where they are, but for now I'm just hoping everyone gets out safely.

Send water.