It's happening again. Southern California is on fire.

Almost exactly 4 years ago, over 300,000 acres (more than the size of Rhode Island) in San Diego County was scorched in multiple wildfires that burned out of control for several days. It was a scary time. And now it's happening again.

I was out on a hike at the Eagle Peak Preserve this morning. At about 1pm, we noticed smoke just a few miles away, over the hill.



This is what became the Witch Creek fire. It was at 10 acres when the first report came out. When we left the preserve, we headed to Julian for some apple pie, a few minutes away. By the time we arrived in Julian, the reports increased to 100 acres, then 500.

We had apple pie. Got back to car. 3,000 acres.

There's also a fire down by the Mexican border; this one started at 9:30 in the morning. It's the Harris Fire and up to 14,000 acres right now. It's already claimed one firefighter and many homes.

The reason why they're growing so fast is due to the dry and gusty Santa Ana winds. There were times during the hike that we could barely walk because the winds were so crazy.



There are multiple fires in the Los Angeles area again, as well. Malibu took a hit four years ago and it's getting hit again. I think that was the first one, because it started yesterday morning.

Driving back into San Diego (via a roundabout way, because the direct highway route was shut down), it's all smoke...