Kim_Johnson
It is sad to see the horrific images of Portugal’s recent fires. We all understand what you are going through here in San Diego California, and hope they put them out soon. Our prayers are with now. Stay safe. Pack your car and be ready for evacuation.
I found a really good story, covering our wildfires of 2014, along with this awesome photo below taken from the air.
We live in between the coast and the 3rd of 4th fire. In 2014 California had a total of 7,865 wildfires, with a total area of 555,044 (2,246 km) burned.
Here is my story. We woke up on a beautiful warm September morning in 2014. I went out on the back patio and noticed this sight outside my back door. 
At this point, I am not sure if this is just a house fire??? …..
I have an alert on my computer of wildfires that might be close,,,time to check.. It looks bigger than a house..
Confirmed wildfire. Time to pack the car and watch it. If it gets much close or darker we will leave.
Notice the drone? It must be bad..
Okay, cars packed, with plenty of fresh water, a cooler packed full of food. Important papers, Computers, laptops, dog food, cat food.. clothes, an overnight case. Doesn’t look good.. It is getting dark and hard to breath.
Too close for comfort, time to go. I was thinking, I will head away from the fire and hit the major highway to the freeway and safe!
I turned onto the road leading to the highway..The freeway is closed behind me. This is the only way out. The fires were heading toward the coast. We were boxed in. I hope we make it before this one takes out the highway..
I rolled down the window so the true color showed. My windows are tinted green.
Still looks like we can get around it. 
It jumped to double the size in seconds.
Its still to the left though.
We had a full car. One dog, two people, 4 cats, and one bird.
Luckily the fire stayed to the left of the highway. We finally made it out of the fire area. We were able to come home the next day. We stayed in a parklot overnight.
There were injured 146 people.
The fact that there were injured is not good. The photos tell a lot.
True, but for where these fires started and the path straight to the coast is towns, houses, all packed in like sardines. The fire crews were true heros. Fire teams came from all over the US to help us. It was amazing. The first photo shows Mexicos line and the fires down there as well. You could see the fires from space.
A hug to my neighbors of Portugal it’s a shame …
Indeed.
love the pictures… but sad to hear about the fire 🙁
Ive been to some of the burned places. and 4 years later it is really starting to get pretty again. Thank you