Wow man. These photos are stunning. I love the one you captured of the birds against the big smoke clouds. It's got a very eerie Alfred Hitchcock feel. It really does look like you could have pointed your camera anywhere. It's something so rarely seen that it creates this feeling of awe when you're looking at the pictures.

It's such a sad phenomenon. How do the fires keep starting? I don't think I've ever been sure of the cause. I lived in Glendale, California for nine years and encountered fires on many occasions. I actually just left about a year ago. In that time I saw fires in the hills, fires along freeways and was once evacuated from my house because of a fire on a hill at the end of my neighborhood. It was the craziest thing ever to look up and see flames slowly crawling closer to you. I've never packed a car so quickly full of items. It really puts things in perspective when you're only able to take the most valuable things and only have a short time to do it. Luckily there was no real damage done to my home other than everything smelling of smoke.

Stay safe!!! And thanks for sharing. We really need to find a way to stop these fires. They've not only affected me but friends and family across the state.