Smoke haze starting to clear.

Hope they go out soon - not good for you at all!

Lucky neither of us suffers from asthma!

Very true. People with any respiratory problems must really suffer.

Keep safe & well Bernieh.

The fires are kilometres away - those hills seem a lot closer in the photo than they really are. Unfortunately though the fire front has stretched right across the face of the hills and that's why there's so much smoke.

Nice photo, although too bad it's not fog instead of bushfire smoke!

Thanks Charlieb - well the fires have now spread far away to the other sides of those hills and thankfully the smoke haze has lifted.

Lovely view shame about the haze, I would be waring a mask

We get used to the smoke haze from burning bushfires around here. The volunteer fire brigade actually set fires at the end of spring all around the area to try to get rid of the fuel before summer. It's a little uncommon to get the bushfires in winter - but the 'wet' we had at the beginning of the year obviously meant a lot of growth and lots of fuel for fires and winter is our driest time so it wasn't totally unexpected.

Dont they warn you about starting the fires

No not really - sometimes it gets mentioned on the radio of a morning. They're controlled burns - which means the fire brigade make sure it's contained - it's considered an important job to get rid of as much of the grass in bush areas as possible before the summer sets in.

I would of thought they would warn you like over here if they are turning the water off they send a van with a p a system shouting the water will be turned off in 1 hr or so. perhaps you should suggest this so as to keep your windows closed and be prepared

Maybe we're a bit too laid-back - we're used to this happening and for those of us who don't suffer asthma or respiratory problems it's not too bad. Of course people with those problems must hate it.

All the more reason they should notify you s

Bernieh:

That looks too familiar! I hope no ones home was burned!
We have many fires burning around Cal. right now...however, the worst is to come in the next 4 months or so...when the dreaded Santa Winds Season starts at the end of Sept or beginning of
Oct.

Delonix - fortunately these particular fires were blazing away in uninhabited areas behind our suburb, but the fire front was enormous and stretched for kilometres. There were a couple close to the city and one right in the heart of the city where there's a rather large hill - but they were contained quickly. There's a lot of undergrowth and grass around because we had such a good 'wet' season at the beginning of the year - we're all a bit worried about the summer time which is always the worst. We are lucky in a way though in that we don't get those fierce winds - so our fires probably don't spread as rapidly!

Bernieh:

I'm glad to hear no one was hurt or no homes destroyed!

As I write this comment the fires around S. Cal are
getting worse. The sky is getting hazy, smokey from the fires in the Los Angeles area. We also have been experiencing a horrible, horrible heat wave...which has made the fire-fighting efforts uncontrollable.

Yes have heard of your fires in the media over here - it's such a horrible time. Let's hope all is well soon.

Bernieh:

Thanks! Unfortunately, this is just the begining of the the horrible fire season...in the following months it will become worse! The Santa Ana Winds will blow then the "firstorms" will start. It happens here every year just like clock work.

That's the worst part of it all - firstorms! We just had a report come out after the firestorms experienced in our summer just gone when we lost almost many people and whole townships and there's just no answer to something like that.

Bernieh:

Yes, I remember seeing the horrible, horrible firestorm last year in Southern Australia on the news here for several days. Those are the types of firestorms we get here in late summer or fall even winter if it's too dry. 2003 and 2007 were the biggest fires in Southern California in recent history. In 2007 the firestorms led to the largest evacuation of homes in California's State recorded history.

It's just a dreadful time of the year - but inevitable when we move into these areas I guess!

Bernieh:

Those are the keys words: "inevitable when we move into these areas" that's the biggest problem here in California...to many homes are being build in areas that burn every 20 - 40 years...which is just part of the
natural process of nature.

Exactly the same here, Delonix.