Devouring Flame

As I sit here writing, fires are still raging out of control in many areas round about us. Hot Santa Anna winds have seared the already dry and thirsty hillsides, ravines and canyons. Bone dry brush and grasses need but a spark to change the country into a roaring inferno. A few days ago fires were racing through the canyon south and east of us, threatening the outskirts of the city. In one day sixty-six different fires were reported in scattered areas. Some of these were obviously started by...