The recent Southern California fires have been attributed to "global warming" by a lot of folks such as Senator Harry Reid and TV commentator Anderson Cooper. Those two are partisan Democrats, but apparently have little scientific training. Both say the fires "prove" the global warming hypothesis. Here is some interesting data that the commentators seem unaware of. The average high temperature on 23 September in Escondido is 79 F while this year the high was 84 F, but in 1929 the high was 102 F. So, how did the scrub brush in Southern California know that global warming was afoot, since it had been much hotter in the past? When I lived in Southern California back in the 1950's I remember watching the fires all around Los Angeles; there was a significant glow at night, and a lot of smoke during the daytime. One difference between then and now is the number of people living in the region. There are about six times as many people now, and people live out in the brush now in what was open space then.