-5- Fire

I begin my mornings early. A curse of sorts that links back to my days living on a ranch in Southern Arizona. Days always began before the sun was up, and so do my days now. I usually eat breakfast, watch the 5:00 am news and then get ready for a morning walk. Thursday, a week ago started in much the same way. I was eating my oatmeal ( which tastes like boiled sawdust), watching the news when a bulletin came on saying there was a fire in the Santa Cruz mountains. The location was in the Summit road and Loma Prieta road area. This got my attention quickly. My normal morning walk is along Summit road. Add to that, the wind was unusually high for this time of year. We were having sustained winds of 30 miles per hour with gusts up to 50. Shortly after the news bulletin , I could hear the wail of sirens of fire trucks rushing by on Summit road. Not good news at all.

The Santa Cruz mountains are beautiful. They are also a natural disaster just waiting to happen. They are formed by the San Andreas fault system. That makes the mountains an active earthquake zone. They are heavily forested with redwoods, fir trees, large oaks, California laurel and heavy scrub brush. All which provide adequate fuel for wild fires. Finally, the Santa Cruz mountains are quite steep, which results in numerous mud slides. Many opportunities for natural disasters. If one reads the history of the Santa Cruz mountains, the greatest losses of lives and property have been attributed to fires. When a fire breaks out in the neighborhood, one is well advised to be ready to get out and get out quickly.

I decided to go out to higher ground an determine just how close the fire was. I woke up Terry, told her there was a fire going and then drove up to the local school parking lot. Once there, the smoke plume was easily visible, south and east of our home. It was a very large smoke plume, billowing up in the sky, resembling big fat thunderheads. It appeared to be about 5 miles away and the gusting wind was pushing the fire away from our house. On the way back to the house, I stopped by several neighbor's houses and let them know that a fire was going, just to raise their awareness. When I did get home, Terry called several other neighbors that live close to the fire and asked if they needed any help. Terry and I made mental lists of what to grab if we needed to leave quickly and mentally prepared to abandon the house should the need arise. By this time, all the local news was covering the story. The fire had grown from 40 acres to 1,000 acres and was spreading rapidly due to the high winds.

The rest of the day was a sit and wait kind of situation. The winds would swirl around, but for the most part kept blowing south and east which was to our advantage. We kept the television on which was the best source of information about the fire. The news teams were providing constant coverage and the traffic helicopters were circling above the fire. We could actually watch the fire move and houses go up in flames in real time. It was both scary and sad at the same time. We could clearly hear the fire trucks rushing to the fire all day. The fire helicopters grumbled across the sky like angry giant dragonflies, dropping bucket after bucket of water on the flames. The wind dropped a tree across our road about midday. I quickly cut it up and got the pieces off the road. That is one of the real hazards during a fire in the mountains. The roads are narrow and steep. If a tree blocks the road, one cannot drive around it. You are stuck until the tree is moved or burned up.

By evening, the winds started to die down thankfully. The fire had grown to to burn for several days, but 3,000 plus acres and was 20% contained. The night turned cool and calm, both good for fighting fires. The fog which is normal for this time of year began to trickle in in the night. The crisis stage seemed to be over. The fire continued but the lack of wind and the cooler weather made fighting the fire easier for the firefighters.

Tuesday, I drove to the area closest to our home that had burned. I walked a few miles to see up close what was left of the area. The road I walked in on is one that Terry and I used to run on in years gone by and still walk on to this day. There were a number of clean up crews putting out stumps and smoldering logs in the area. The sky was yellow with smoke. My impression was of a ghost forest covered with ash. It was like walking in a forest covered with a light snow, except the snow was hot and smoke was rising from the stumps. Sort of a dream like the ones you get when you have a fever from the flu.

The true heroes were of course the firefighters and the law enforcement officers that kept the roads open. The people your rarely ever see, yet they are there quickly when trouble shows up on your doorstep. And then you are ever so glad that they are there. So the next time you hear a siren and see the flashing red lights coming down the road in your mirror, pull over and let them by. The very next time you get a chance to vote on a local proposition to support fire and police protection, vote for it. They all deserve it. And you will be helping yourself or your friends or some other good people that you don't even know when trouble comes to their door one day.