Strange Fire.

Two in a day. None for years before.

Driving on the 10 interstate freeway towards my appearance at the Redlands Superior Court one morning last week, I saw a thick, black cloud billowing up into the sky. As I approached I saw a pickup truck fully engulfed in flames. Tires on fire; the cab spewing flames; and the engine alight. I saw its driver standing about 20 feet away talking on his cell phone, no doubt telling the person on the other side, "I'm having a bad day."

On the way home that same day, I was driving along Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach, and again saw that now familiar black cloud wafting from the right side of the road. The fourth floor of the Balboa Bay Club was on fire. This time, however, fire trucks and police were on the scene, but according to the news stories, it happened only minutes earlier.

Strange. Fire.