The Great Thomas Fire.

Now possibly the most destructive fire ever to ravage the coastal mountains of California, "Thomas" rages on.

How did this monster ever receive it's name?

Because it started in a clearing near the college of St Thomas Aquinas. 

It was here that some homeless Californians had set up their make-shift camp and were cooking up their evening scraps.

Horror of horrors, the surrounding bush suddenly caught fire and, driven by a brisk Santa Ana wind, it was on its way to an unstoppable fury.

Suddenly vanished were the vagrants and within an hour there were a lot of other homeless Californians, running for their lives before a scorching inferno. As of tonight  the fire has scorched two hundred and seventy square miles of coastal lands, gobbling up thousands of structures including the homes of some of America's rich and famous. The damage is incalculable.

But pause for a moment. As Christmas time approaches we remember the Saviour of the World was numbered among the homeless. He was born in a stable because there was no room for Him at the inn; in His later years He was to say: "The birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head"

Now in California the vagrants who began the fire "Thomas" and the hundreds who are now homeless because of it bear a common suffering.

Perhaps in their affliction the super-rich will understand they have a shared humanity with the super-poor and a salutary lesson may yet emerge from this calamity.

Jubilate.

Ian