There are around 100 fires burning in the County today, 2/3 of which are being fought by firefighters from all over the state. They are all the result of a bizarre lightning storm that happened over the weekend, without the accompaniment of any rain (rain? we haven't had that in ages- it was like a completely new phenomenon when I experienced it during my Washington D.C. trip). Here are some pictures taken at the production plant this morning:



That's my dad on the right, who plans on wearing a mask all day. We've got dust masks and eye drops out where everyone can get to them. Anywhere you stand outside, it's like you're right in the path of smoke from a campfire burning a couple feet away, and it's not much better (and sometimes worse) inside.

One of the fires is burning just about 10 miles west of our production plant, off the same road we're on, and the smoke, blowing inland, is pouring out into our valley.

Sunny said she could see small pieces of ash in the air. It's actually bad enough in my office that I'm now wearing a dust mask in front of my computer (no real way to flush the air in here, short of getting a whole bunch of oxygen-giving plants!).