Ironically, almost four years to the day after the Cedar and Paradise fires devastated large parts of San Diego County, a new rash of blazes erupted under nearly identical weather conditions, scarring lives and ravaging property.
Words cannot express the depth of our shock and horror at the gravity of the tragic situation. It's also difficult to express in language our most heartfelt sympathy and empathy for the victims left to pick up the pieces.
The suffocating dryness, winds raining ash, endless scenes of licking flames devouring landscape, homes and buildings - it's all like some incredible scene out of Dante's "Inferno." To witness the wrath of nature, its indomitable power - and randomness - is humbling.
But there are other images indelibly etched in our minds at times like these: firefighters putting their lives on the line, police warning people to evacuate one step ahead of the flames, neighbors coming to one another's rescue.
Our kudos to all the emergency professionals, all the volunteers, everyone and any one who rose to the occasion to help others in their hour of need.
Tragedies like these serve to remind us that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Like all senseless tragedies in life, we must come to terms with it, learn from it, put it behind us, and carry on. Together, we'll get through this - again.
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