I've been following the current fire situation in Southern California a bit more closely this time around, having live there the last two years. I have friends who live in some of the more fire-prone areas near Malibu and Thousand Oaks, and I know that they have had a number of close calls over the years.

I was initially browsing for information at cnn.com, but could never find a good interactive map that would help me get a better sense of where the fires were or where they were headed.

Then a friend of mine (one whose house is definitely in a fire zone) pointed me to this blog posting with satellite pictures of the area with fire information overlayed -- all generated with Google Earth.

I have played with Google Earth in the past, but this was the first time that I have seen a compelling real-world application where it provides better near real-time information that is critical to people's lives.

There's something very disturbing about seeing an older satellite images of a forest with a big red dot right in the middle, indicating "this whole set of trees is probably on fire right now."