My sister and I are traveling in Utah. We've planned this trip for a month or so. She is from California. I live in Arizona. The original plan was for me to travel to her home, then we would go in her car to Vernal, Utah.

Things in my life made changes in our plans. Now we were to meet in St. George on Monday.

On Sunday the world caught fire. At least it did in Southern California. My sister's home was in danger, but her husband told her to go on the trip. She had no control over whether their home burned or not. Monday afternoon she spent hours waiting in the Cajon Pass trying to get out of Orange County. She finally arrived in St. George at 2 a.m.

Look at the satellite image. There are over a dozen fires raging in the Southland. Over 1800 homes have been destroyed. Nearly a million people have been evacuated, fortunately, as that has lessened the loss of life. In San Diego Country alone, the losses are about 1 billion dollars. So far, my sister's home has not burned, although two houses in the next street were lost due to blowing embers.

Now the allegations are that some of the fires were deliberately set.

Are people crazy?

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has already sent six semi-truckloads of disaster-aid goods to evacuation centers in Southern California. To donate to LDS Philanthropies' Humanitatian Aid services, click here. On the resulting page, please click on the icon at the top left where it says "Click to make a Gift".

If you prefer to support the American Red Cross, to donate to the San Diego County ARC, click here.

Thank you.