America the Resilient

By Neil Earle

LA Times covered the Duarte fires of June 20-21. Click to enlarge.

Great LA Times dramatic shot of the June 20-21 fires in our small town of Duarte about 20-25 miles north and east of downtown. I was working away when my wife came from the store and said, "You got to see this."

At about 2PM June 20 the billowing high rising dark orange smoke looked like an A-bomb exploded behind out city or the menacing figure at the end of Disney's Fantasia. People in the next town of Azusa felt it growing dark. Evac procdures were set up almost across the street from us pronto but involved only 22 people at my count.

Meanwhile the Dodger game was telecast not far from downtown and the Goodyear blimp circled the stadium showing the idyllic shot of the sun setting on the Pacific and even the San Gabriels to the north but nary a mention of the blaze keeping us thinking of evacuation. Shows how big LA really is.

All praise to our firefighters/responders once again, they are true heroes and everyone knows it. Everyone stays calm and you have to be impressed once again (as I am as a Canadian) by American Resilience. Saw the same spirit during the Northridge Earthquake in January 1994. This country is not over the hill yet by any means. Go Duarte! Go Azusa! Go California!