There are so many vineyards and so many wineries in Napa and Sonoma. Sadly, some have been damaged or destroyed, but most are still fine. Once the Wine Country has a chance to settle down and clean up, the area will be ready and waiting for tourists.
I’m thinking about all the houses that have been destroyed and the people who weren’t able to evacuate in time. 
Interestingly, my firefighter relative said that many of the vineyards in the burned areas didn’t catch fire and actually functioned as good fire breaks. I’m guessing that this was because we are winding down harvest season and many of the vines are still green.
My cousin found out that the winery where he got married is gone (didn’t say the name). Very, very minor in the grand scheme of things but still a little sad nonetheless.
@vinyardview, I wonder if irrigation systems were turned on as fire protection
This policeman’s body cam footage is terrifying:
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-northern-california-fires-live-1507946968-htmlstory.html
Not to detract from the fires in wine country, but I just saw that the west coast of Spain and Portugal are burning as well. The most developed stories are in Spanish and Portuguese but here is at least one English link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/15/deadly-spanish-wildfires-bear-town-vigo-hundreds-evacuated/
The fires in Spain and Portugal are caused by devil winds from Ophelia, the hurricane that is about to hit Ireland.
@“Cardinal Fang” I didn’t know that. How awful this storm season has been
That’s the area of Spain where my husband is from. We have a home in Galicia and our neighborhood is being threatened by the fires. But the fires are almost certainly caused by arson, not by the winds from Hurricane Ophelia.
A bright story:
Thank you for sharing the story about Odin. It’s wonderful. Dogs rock.
There was also a dog that was found unexpectedly alive after one of the fires. She had run away during the chaos of a nighttime evacuation.
I bawled when I saw that last night.
I like dogs more than most people and my dog IS my baby. I can’t imagine the sheer horror that these families went through.
One more side effect of the fires—SFO flights are terribly backed up and flights between SFO and southern CA are often delayed or cancelled.
We were just waiting in very slow and long long me at SFO. Even tho we were in premier line it moved at a snail’s pace and the 1k line didn’t move much faster. Only the self-check kiosks were clear.
If you have ANY flights involving SFO, give yourself extra time, especially as there are a lot of delays and cancellations due to smoke from fires—still.
You were not able to use web checkin, kiosk checkin, or (for things that need an agent) the FF elite phone agent?
I need to see a United agent because that is their rule for flying with a portable oxygen concentrators. (Some other airlines don’t require you do this any more but United does—you can’t do self-check in or use the kiosk and a contract employee).
I just spent a LONG time talking with their Disabilities Desk and customer service (from the comfort of our home) who had lots of excuses but said there was nothing more I could have done except maybe arriving 3 hours before my flight instead of 2.5 for a domestic nonstop SFO to HNL. Even 3 hours wouldn’t have been enough if I hadn’t successfully begged the agent not to take her break until after she gave us boarding passes and checked our luggage. As it was, we just got our luggage on the flight, 46 minutes before departure due to the slow, interminable line!
You should probably expect slow lines at the checkin desk regardless of fires or other conditions. With web and kiosk checkin (and baggage drop express lanes for those who did web or kiosk checkin), the only people who use the checkin desk are those with unusual issues or newbie airline passengers who will take a long time to check in.
Do other airlines where you fly (Hawaiian?) allow you to do web or kiosk checkin with the oxygen concentrators?
I always give myself extra time but this was the worst in the decade I’ve flown with O2 and the agents didn’t seem to really care. Even the Disabilities Desk and customer service said 2.5 hours is normally tons of time for domestic flights.
The snag was that the agents were trying to get the folks into different flights with ANY airlines and it was taking a very long time with insufficient staff.
Only AA or Delta are rumored to allow you to check in via online when flying with O2. Honestly, the agents generally only give a cursory glance (if that) at the equipment and ask if I have paperwork and sufficient batteries and that’s about it. No, this was just very slow and fairly indifferent.
United sent each of us a $300 e-certificate to be applied toward a future flight and an apology for the long wait and having to rush to board the plane before it took off. They didn’t mention anything they would be doing to change procedures to prevent similar issues in the future, unfortunately.