Los Angeles Fires from the Air

Sunday, a short trip took me across the LA Basin directly over the Freeway Fire in Orange County and Riverside County. Here is how the devastation looked from about 9,000 feet. We flew just on the southern and eastern edge of the Temporary Flight Restriction area that had been set up for water tankers. The smoke clouds from the LA and OC fires rose past 10,000 feet and dominated the entire basin. Its hard to see from the photos, but a great deal of the area is simply charred black. The tankers wasted no time. After dropping their water, they wheeled over and headed back to Lake Matthews to refill. Adding to the sadness of this event is the speed with which it developed. Many homeowners went from sleeping comfortably in their beds to homeless within 12 hours.