Arsonists Are Stupid

Just this morning they announced that Southern California was on an "Extreme Fire Alert" due to hot, very dry weather. We haven't had rain in weeks.

Then, this happened. *



A suspected arson started a fire in Griffith Park. Surrounding areas have been evacuated, including the LA Zoo. There are over 120 firefighters working against the blaze, in addition to 5 helicopters, which we can actually watch fly back and forth between the fire and the man-made lake where they are picking up water to drop on the flames. We work on the 18th floor of the tallest building in the area.

At one point, we thought we could see flames.



You can see the Griffith Park Observatory, which dates back to 1933 and only just reopened a few months ago after several years of renovations. It's on top of the hill, to the right.

Luckily, the winds are pushing the flames northeast of the Observatory, toward the Burbank side of the hill. You can sort of see it pushing away.



I live in Burbank. There was a fire about 6 weeks ago and the smell and smoke made things uncomfortable for a little while.

They're saying that they may already have a suspect in custody, who happens to be badly burned. I think Alanis would call that ironic.

It's like intentionally setting a brush fire just to watch it burn on possibly the worst day of the whole year and ending up needing skin grafts.

*Though my pictures runneth over, I thought it would be best to include the larger sizes for more detail.