进入秋季，加州这块干旱燥热之地又一次爆发了严重的山火。从十月九日起至今，20多个县受灾，死亡31人，400多人下落不明， 191,000公顷被烧， 3,500建筑被毁 (WSJ，10／13／2017报道)，是历史上自1923年以来第二次最致命的山火。州长宣布进入紧急状态。直升飞机从四面八方八个州来援助灭火，消防队员辛苦地日夜奋战。
奇怪的是，同一天10月9日上午10点左右，南加也爆发了一处山火。中午时分，我从公司的二楼往外看，厚厚的浓烟布满东北方向的天空，而且来势凶猛，一小时后，浓烟更重了。下午两三点，大家的手机，同时警报声响起，告诉我们哪些地区需要强行撤离。只见我们组里一位女同事匆匆离去。三点，公司发出一份邮件，需要离开的员工只需跟自己的老板打声招呼，就可以走了。据说，那日有些高速公路封道，正常情况只需一个小时的路程，有一个同事那天下班开了五个小时才到家。
都说加州好啊，冬暖夏凉，有山有海，四季阳光普照。但是，地震山火也是不断的。就说这山火，几乎每年都听说。想想，这么干燥的天气，一个电闪雷劈，一根火柴，就可以造成一片汪洋火海。加上时有的Santa Ana风(像这次就是一例), 活像一只装了强力马达的热吹风机，以一小时四五十mile的速度，狂风卷落叶，席卷着，肆虐着万物和苍穹，抽干空气中本来就少得可怜的湿度，让原本星星之火，以极快的速度燎原。
想起每次去北加经过的成片成片的葡萄园，井井有条地排列，生机盎然地沐浴在阳光下。而今，美丽的酒乡Napa Valley, Somoma Valley被烧了，无法想象该是怎样悲惨的一片废墟。又想起十年前家附近的一场大火，那时自己搬进新区才一两年，山火从山那边烧起，一直蔓延到山的这一边，烧到我们住的社区后面的山上。那年，我们曾随着成群的人们走到山脚下，只记得夜空被火光照着发红，一条火龙沿着山脊烧下来。人们在议论在担心，因为再往下烧，我们就面临被强行撤离的境地。
好在那场山火后来被扑灭了。那场大火烧毁了三万顷山林。我们两年前去爬山时，还看见那峡谷底处，成片被烧过的痕迹。然而大自然又是顽强的，劫后重生的树木从焦土中重又生长出来，努力覆盖着它曾经的遍体鳞伤。就在我们今天似乎想要忘却时，一场更凶猛的山火又一次爆发，再次提醒我们大自然的无常和无情。
愿山火早日扑灭，愿灾区人们早日脱离危险，重建家园，重新安居乐业。(下面这照片是从公司二楼往下拍，10／09／2017中午时分)
Wildfires raged varociously in Northern California. When the news came that about 20 counties, concentrated in the wine counties of Sonoma and Napa Valley, were ravaged by the fires, I was standing in the company kitchen, watching through the window the wildfire in Southern CA close by. My memories drifted away along the smoke towards the Northern vineyard.
It must be more than 15 years ago, in the spring of that year, we drove up to the north via Freeway No. 5. After we exited out of the deep rigged valleys, we were then greeted by the vast stretch of open farm land, green, lush, vibrant and full of life. Rows of fruit trees, such as pistachio lined up straight. Sheep and cows, black and white, dotted the verdant rolling hills, grazing leisurely under the sun. Hours later, a more picturesque scene came to our eyes. Under the blue sky and drifting white clouds, there were acres and acres of well-cut grape vines, hundreds and thousands of them. The bare vines contrasted strikingly with the green abundant leaves, which hung heavily along the underpinning wires or poles. They stood lines by lines uniformly, disappearing to the end of the sights. What a postcard like scene! My daughter, then six or seven years old, turned her head from the window to me, and commented like a little scholar that this was a place from Chinese Tang poems.
I have never really been to Napa Valley, but I guess it should be no different from any vineyard I came across on the trip. Now the places were reportedly burnt to ground, and I cannot imagine on my mind that such iconic wine regions are now engulfed with fires, turning themselves into a charred land, with perhaps piles of burnt and collapsed grape vines smothering in the air, a scene depicted in the movie called “A Walk in the Clouds.”
Ten years ago, a rampant wildfire erupted in the area next to where we newly moved in. It started in a remote hilly valley but extended over the other side fueled by the gust wind. I remember that night we walked across the community and flocked to the scene with the other residents in the community. The night sky was tinged with orange haze; the burning smell inundated the area; the scattered fires were like a fire dragon burning and dazzling on the ridge of the mountains. People said that if the fires had rolled down a little further, our whole community would have been evacuated.
As a result of the fire in 2007, 30,000 acres were burnt. Though a lot of trees remain dead when we hiked the areas in 2015, new trees and bushes were sprawling over the once charred valley . Nature is resilient, so are people. Let's pray for the people who will have to weather such a havoc, and hope the fire will soon be contained completely.
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