As a native Californian I knew it was important to be prepared for a natural disaster, however in my mind, I was preparing for an earthquake. Never in a million years did I envision a fire storm, let alone multiple fire storms raging across the state and across my community all at the same time! 
Before the Northern California fire storm our family felt well prepared for an earthquake, we had our camping gear, nonperishable goods, medications, and more staged in an easy to access location in our garage. In the earthquake scenario in my mind, our family would gather those earthquake supplies and meet up at the predetermined destination "ready to be on our own for 3 or more days". However, earthquake preparations were wholly inadequate for the fires we are experiencing.
No, this fire storm is unlike anything I've ever imagined or prepared for!
What we experienced late Sunday and into early Monday was a fire storm of a scale I still cannot wrap my mind around. The lucky people ran from their homes grabbing their kids, pets, maybe a few important documents and a cell phone with just the clothes they were wearing. Locally it is estimated that fifty thousand people needed to evacuate - and yet the shelters are not full. 
This shared community trauma seems to have had a unique social impact - community members are helping in every way they can - offering their homes for sanctuary, showers, rest and processing. We are coming together to support one another in any way that we can. 
Going forward I hope our community will continue to support each other and maybe, just maybe - this experience - as awful as it is - will help us coalesce and see past our differences and unify us around our shared experiences.
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