It is difficult for most of us New Yorkers even to imagine the kind of conflagration that is rampaging on the coast. Flames are surrounding neighborhoods, leaping from house to house, and leaving thousands burned out and homeless. The photographs being transmitted, such as the satellite view of the arc where California meets the Pacific, which we carry on page one, indicate an amazing scale to these blazes. The fires are a human tragedy and a tragedy of nature, compounded by reports earlier this year that said captured Al Qaeda members told interrogators that some terrorists had discussed the possibility of setting wildfires in America. A Los Angeles spokesman quoted by our Josh Gerstein dismissed that possibility yesterday as “far-fetched.” There has been no lightning activity in Southern California in recent days, Mr. Gerstein reported, so authorities believe that most, if not all, of the fires were caused by people. One fire was apparently ignited by a lost hunter who hoped it would bring about a rescue. No matter what turns out to be the cause of these fires, many New Yorkers will be thinking of their countrymen and women on the coast.