Hundreds of Southern California schools are shut down as a result of at least a half-dozen raging wildfires, stretching from Santa Barbara County to San Diego County.  It’s the second time in two months that fires have disrupted the school year in the state.

More than 200,000 students have been affected by school closures in about two dozen districts, the largest being the Los Angeles Unified School District, which closed at least 265 schools.  The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), the Getty Museum, and the exclusive neighborhood of Bel-Aire are also being threatened.  Using vehicles to evacuate patients from medical facilities, vans and school buses are lining up to remove patients as workers in masks pushed frail residents in wheelchairs across parking lots and roads.

At least 899 structures have been destroyed, including 701 single-family homes.  Eighteen thousand are still in the path of the fires and are being threatened.

Please keep these areas in your thoughts and prayers.