That's me flying over Mt. Palomar Observatory in San Diego County. Visibility was at a premium that day, but we saved it.

Since the current news is totally devoted to the fires in California, and justifiably so, I thought I would talk about my experiences as a fire pilot. I flew fire for the state of California for 22 years, and after that, I had a 1-year contract with the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.