Eerie

Tonight a dark orange full moon rose from a horizon glowing orange from the wildfires that surround us.  My family and house are safe, but the sky over us is a cloudy brown storm of ash and smoke.  Ash and embers are falling on my home like a dirty snow.  I visited New Orleans not long after Katrina and realized that TV will never accurately capture the devastation of a real disaster.  The firestorms here are no exception.  This is awful, tragic.  Friends and co-workers have lost their homes.  If there's any fortune to be found in this disaster, it's that few lives have been lost.  But the devastation is still severe.

If you're one of the two or three people that read my blog, you know part of my job is disaster management.  Specifically, medical disaster management.  Fortunately, this has not been a medical disaster.  But I've still been busy managing my hospitals' response to the fires.  Long days, little sleep, endless phone calls and meetings.  Tonight, finally a short break to spend with my family, still keeping a close eye on the two closest fires threatening my community.

The weather is turning and the end is in sight, but the emergency is nowhere near over.  Countless evacuees are waiting to return to their homes, many to find a pile of smoldering rubble.  Where do they go then?  It will take years for my community to fully recover from this disaster.  Wish us luck...