currently . . . residing in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Northern California as I do . . . I am surrounded by individuals who for a relatively modest fee are voluntarily hurling themselves mind, body and soul into fire, flames and smoke of a magnitude and scope almost too great to comprehend . . . to save a stranger's home, business or a beautiful swath of my beloved California . . . the reports of a wild land firefighters drawing a line . . . and holding that line in the face of oncoming 30 foot walls of flame and refusing to back down to save a community . . . brings me chills and tears . . . they are some truly bad ass heroes . . .

in my town they are using the fairgrounds for staging and logistics . . . many firefighters are camping there . . . members of my community are coming up with different ways to show their support . . . local musicians asked if it would be ok to play some music to entertain the weary during the evening and were greeted with a hell yeah . . . and apparently the firefighters are loving the brief respite . . .