Fire should be contained by morning

My mom took a drive to get the skinny on the fire.  She reports that it is in the White River Canyon on Fitterer’s property and headed to McFarland grade, west of us.  She estimates that if the fire is not contained, it would still take from 1 to 2 days to reach us.  The smoke is particularly bad in the California Hot Springs valley because the winds were pushing it up the White River Canyon and into the valley.  As evening comes, the wind direction changes and the smoke should clear out.  I have a slight headache, much like I would get in a smoke-filled bar.

The authorities appear fairly confident that the fire will be contained.  We called our friend Ted Reese earlier for information on the fire since he works for the California Division of Forestry.  He was not home.  It appears that he’s on the line and that the fire is very close to his house.  His wife Sheryl called here by mistake – she was actually trying to reach Ted on the line.  She reports that the fire should be contained by morning.

In the meantime, we have all showered in case we lose electricity (our well is on an electric pump).  We have also saved some drinking water just in case.