This shortness of breath and my burning eyes have left no discernible way to tell if the smoke or my experiences on the subject are to blame, but it informs upon the core truth of my approach to the matter at hand: this is going to be hard. On the morning of November 8th, a fire started just outside the retirement town of Paradise, CA. It’s been one week now, and 48 people are dead. 8,800 structures have been destroyed. 135,000 plus acres have been eviscerated by walls of flames 200 feet high, and in their wake 27,000 people have been displaced with 200 still unaccounted for.