My house is pretty close to the San Gabriel foothill area, so the fire that started up this weekend has been acutely affecting us over here. The skies have been a dim grey and flakes of ash are floating down to the earth like snow.
My boss, who lives quite close, has already been evacuated. Her car was covered with soot from all the brush burning up and her husband mentioned they were able to hear the crackling of the blaze throughout the night.
Thankfully, no casualties have been reported yet, but there have been several close calls including a trapped wedding party and a squad of firefighters who all made it out safely in the end.
They're hoping the slight drop in temperatures being forecast for the rest of the week will help prevent the fire from spreading, but of course, these things are hard to predict. Last I read, they're still expecting about a week before things may return to normal...