6:45 AM, got about 4-5 hours of sleep. Woken up by the cat, who can tell that something is not quite right, and despite the fact that I'm yawning like George Bush at a Constitutional law class, I can't fall back asleep. LA Times still reporting that the only structure loss in the fire so far are three houses in Big Tujunga Canyon, which is in the middle of the Angeles National Forest. So all indications are that our house is still standing. But I have no idea whether the fire has burned itself out in our neighborhood, or is still working its way up the canyon. That's definitely the worst part of being evacuated, the not knowing.
We're staying with some friends in Altadena. We had a great dinner here last night. The air was clear (one of the side-effects of being dry) and we had a spectacular view of the city lights. This morning it looks like a fog has descended, but it's not fog. It's smoke. The eastern flank of the fire is slowly working its way across the front range in this direction. And our friends' house is even more vulnerable than ours. It's a race against time between the fire and cooler weather which is supposed to arrive in the next few days.
I swear by all that is holy that I will never again wish for more excitement in my life.
[Update 10:00 AM] Our house is still standing, along with all the others in our neighborhood. The roadblocks have been removed, and a small army of firefighters are moving on to warmer climes. There's still some smoldering in the canyon, and today is going to be another scorcher so it's a little premature to breathe a complete sigh of relief, but it certainly appears that the worst is over.
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