Fire, Fire!

I was getting ready to leave work the other day when my phone rang. "Are you on your way home, Honey?" Sam asked.
"Just leaving now. Why?"
"Our hills are on fire. You might not be able to get up our street, so you'd better hurry home."
"Okay."
"But be careful."
"Otis' cat carrier is on the top shelf of the garage, if you are going to be evacuated in a hurry."
"Okay."
"I'm on my way."
"Right."
So this is what I saw as I turned off the freeway and headed up the boulevard toward our house.

About eight fire trucks passed me on the way up the street, sirens blaring. Indeed our hills were on fire. The wind had turned to the northwest and the fire had already eaten up all the vegetation on the hills behind our house. It was now moving toward the community college at the end of our subdivision.



The Channel 9 News van was at the corner of our street and helicopters raced back and forth over our house: down to the pond in the golf course where they sucked up water, and then up to the fire to pour it over the flames. Kids and parents lined the golf course, watching the helicopters lower the spickets into the water. I was just worried that they might suck up an unsuspecting duck that lives down there on the water's edge.


As it got dark, the sky looked ominous. It would have been much worse had the wind been blowing the smoke toward us. But it was a clear evening and I could sit on our balcony and watch the planes dropping flame retardant on the fire, and the busy helicopters buzzing back and forth. It sounded like a war zone. Heavy equipment droned up the hill toward the fire where firemen dug up a 20 foot wide swatch of fresh dirt to impede the spread of the flames. We could see sillouttes of firemen up on the ridge. People lined our street watching the fire and taking pictures of the odd colors in the sky.


In Southern California, so many people have lost their homes or have been evacuated in the dead of night. We are thankful that "our" fire was contained by nightfall. The next morning there was a layer of fine ash over our cars in the driveway. A few areas on the hill had ethereal smoke patches, but that was all.

This is what our hills look like today. Poor, baren, charred things.
Authorities caught the 16-year old who set the fire, and incidentally, two or three other area fires that resulted in considerable loss of property. I hope he is dealt with properly and swiftly. Meanwhile, our neighborhood is peaceful once again. We are very grateful, even while another fire just got started up on Cajon Pass tonight, about 20 miles from us. It is all part and parcel of living where we do.