Santa Ana Wind Season

by Mackenzie Miller

I’m an L.A. girl, born and raised. So naturally, when the annual September heat wave settles in, I don’t rejoice in the last of summer’s warmth. I worry. Because in Southern California, hot winds mean one thing and one thing only: that the Santa Ana’s have arrived.

For those of you non-Cali readers, the Santa Ana’s are hot, dry winds that blow from eastern deserts to coastal mountains and foothills, often sparking fires that burn out of control throughout wildlife and residential areas.

This was officially the first week of fall, and like clockwork, also kicked off the Santa Ana wind season. Tuesday’s “Guiberson Fire” is said to have spontaneously ignited in a pile of manure, and is still rapidly growing.

For the past few days, I have been addicted to the news. How many acres have been burned now? How many homes have been destroyed? Have any other fires ignited? It kills me to think that families’ lives are being uprooted because of something beyond control – wind! Since Tuesday, the Guiberson Fire has destroyed well over 10,000 acres of dry grasslands and brush, advancing on the edges of Moorpark, a community slightly north of LA and threatening over 1,000 homes, and a zoo!

Luckily, we have the tools, manpower and resources to at least TRY and combat Mother Nature, and protect our wildlife and communities. Thousands and thousands of people in villages throughout the world don’t have such luxuries. On the contrary, they are forced to destroy their own habitats just to try and make a living! Not out of ignorance, but desperation. Desperation to provide a homestead. The same desperation we feel to protect ours.

To all the brave firefighters and residents of Moorpark, you are in our thoughts and prayers here at Plant With Purpose. You keep doing what you’re doing to save the trees here, and we’ll keep doing what we’re doing to save the trees in rural villages throughout the world.