Yesterday morning, Santa Ana winds were blowing and I saw a head of smoke upwind. A brush fire was reportedly started by a tractor clearing brush to prevent brush fires. In the past few days, I read a story in the Los Angeles Times that said that El Niño sets up occasional heavy rains, but then there are long stretches without rains that dry out the ground. Indeed, we had heavy rains earlier this yesr, followed by record setting heat in March. There’s a brushy hillside near our home and I noticed the brush, which is now brown, is shorter than usual. I theorize that the rains caused the green brush to grow, until the heat in March killed the brush. So yesterday the fire burnt 1,500 acres in the undeveloped area northeast of our homes by Simi Valley, but in the afternoon, the winds shifted and blew the fire towards the San Fernando Valley. In general, our trees are healthy, we have an early bumper crop of oranges due to the March heat, and the Santa Ana winds have started up again, possibly blowing the remains of the fire back this way. Attached photo shows the fire visible from our yard about 5 pm yesterday.