October 27, 2007
the fires of october
october is burning.
the first fire started on october 10th, but i'll get to that.
the next fire ignited last sunday. traveling with a friend to vegas for the weekend, i was awakened by a call letting us know that malibu was burning. we turned on the news in time to watch the fire engulf a church and the malibu castle.
we'd just flown in the evening before, and changing our fight to get out the next day was impossible. so we watched the news for a bit, and after the fire jumped the canyon, we took one look at each other and immediately booked a car to head back to los angeles.
traffic from vegas on a sunday afternoon is miserable without the santa anas blowing and we crawled along the highway at an agonizing pace listening to news radio and getting updates from friends as often as possible.
as we dropped into the valley six hours later, we passed semis overturned and crumpled by the force of the winds, watched brush fires kicking up in santa clarita, and our anxiety thickened with the smoke. finally, we wound through carbon canyon as the flames dropped into the opposite side of the canyon. fire trucks stuffed with watchful waiting fireman were parked in driveways all the way back to the house.
we evacuated all of the important stuff from my friend's house and left with plans to return the next day if we needed to help get the animals out of there. we headed back to my place to sleep, and wait.
the next day the canyon was closed and a mandatory evacuation was in place preventing us from driving up the canyon. leaving the gimp (me) behind, the boys sneaked up the canyon on foot to evacuate a couple of monkeys, marmosets, a bunny and a cat from the property while i waited fretting in a beach house on pch watching the fire burn relentless.
everyone returned safe a few hours later tired, dirty with only a couple of monkey bites to show for their efforts. by wednesday the fire was contained and we headed back to the house to survey the damage. the fire had come right up to the ridge behind the property and before it was stopped by fire crews.
or at least that's what we thought.
settling back in, we pulled the bags out of the car, popped a couple of tylenol pm and tried to relax. but early friday morning we were pulled out of sleep by the frantic neighbor crying fire.
i pulled out of a sound sleep to wide awake in two seconds flat in cowboy boots and pajamas straight out the door and across the yard to confirm that yes, there was a nice big brush fire flaming 20 feet in the air just behind the house.
911 was called, already packed bags were tossed back into the car with keys in the ignition awaiting another dash right back down the canyon.
but those firemen are pretty efficient and made quick work of the fire. while the trucks and water tankers maneuvered around for the best position, a single file line of firefighters trooped over to the ravine, quickly located the best way to make it down and lemming-ed right over the edge chainsaws buzzing and pickaxes burrowing a neat firebreak all around the fire while the rest of the team unwound the hose and went to work putting it out.
there's a good reason that everyone loves a fireman. well that, AND they put out fires. exhausted and nervous, we returned to bed, immensely relieved when the rain came along the following afternoon.
oh that first fire on the 10th? amgen had a little reduction in force. and as the Johns (a close facsimile to the Bobs) informed me, "...your position has been affected." in other words, i had been reduced.
it's weird, but suddenly i do feel much lighter.
Posted by heidijanet at 05:12 PM | Comments (0)