In fire-ravaged California, we know what it's like to leave 'normal life' behind

We've learned that there is a bigger power than humanity. Now coronavirus has shown that to communities across the worldCoronavirus - latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageWhen news of the pandemic broke out in California and we were ordered to shelter at home, many of us rifled through our closets for our bulk packages of protective N95 masks that we'd worn in last year's fire, and the fires the year before that, and the fires the year before that, and wondered if we should donate them to the hospitals or keep them for ourselves.This time, wearing masks was about protecting the vulnerable and at-risk from ourselves. But we will need the masks to protect ourselves from the fires that will likely come back this summer and fall. Presumably, there won't be any N95 masks left by that time, when we'll need protection from the smoke if we're ordered to evacuate, as we had to last year, for more than a week, when the Kincade fire scorched 77,758 acres of our county of Sonoma. Continue reading...