Just like last year, and years before, Southern California is frying like dry tinder. It's already 100 degrees, but the thickness of the burning air just makes outside unbearable. My lungs hurt, my eyes sting, and my allergies are sucking, but a lot of property is being lost and it's scary for many people in the Los Angeles/ Hemet/ Yukaipa area. My heart goes out to you if you're in those areas right now.

Here's footage (not my own) of the fires in LA: [link]


As awful as I feel for the situation and those suffering, this is what happens when people try to hard too control nature. Southern California gets such huge and uncontrollable wildfires precisely because we try to put them out. In Mexico, on the other hand, many wildfires are let go to burn out on their own. In this way, vegetation is less dry and brittle over large scales and the wildfires south of the border are both less frequent and much smaller. Check out this photo: [link]
The image is small, but you can easily see how the crazy-big fires billowing white smoke almost immediately stop at the United States border. The red dots in Mexico are very, very small, but you can see them blowing out brown wisps. It's almost like the International border extends into the sea, and the drastic contrast of the smoke color tells you the differences of how the fires are being dealt with.
Don't get me wrong - a fire is a fire, big or small... but I'd much rather the little dots than those bigs ones.