Fire on Night Two

These pictures were taken just before 6 p.m. to the northeast and north of our home near San Diego State University. You can see the smoke is back. What you can't see is yet another swath of smoke to the south, from a different fire.

When you look at San Diego by satellite, there are two east-west columns of smoke. One of these is north of us, the other south. We're between them.

Watching news coverage of the fires at night via high-definition television is dramatic. They are bright-orange infernos, blown horizontal by the wind. It's no problem seeing why firefighters say the fires won't be seriously challenged until the wind dies down. Forecasts are for calming sometime on Wednesday.

Latest count of homes destroyed: 500.