Tea fire

The sun is setting and you can find me where I usually am during a Santa Ana ..swimming in the ocean. I drive home with the top down through warm night air ..I notice that traffic is a little heavier than usual ..so I take an alternate route ..oblivious. I’m sitting at my laptop when the power goes off ..and switches me to battery. I save what I’m doing and shut down ..still oblivious. I look out the window and it’s pitch black ..too black. I smell what I think is smoke coming from my neighbor’s chimney. I grab a flashlight .. go upstairs and look out my bedroom window. Smoke has blotted out the moon ..and the surrounding hilltops are glowing red. I’m not oblivious anymore. It’s a fire. I run out and see Dr Jones. He tells me that Sycamore Canyon is burning ..and the fire is moving up the side fast. We’re in the canyon next door so, if it jumps the ridge ..we’re toast. From a canyon you don’t get a good perspective so we head over to the high school football stadium to get a bigger picture. I’m sickened by what I see. Smoke is pouring over the top of the range and, behind it, there’s a scarlet red glow stretching all the way from the mountains to the sea. Other people are arriving ..one couple already lost their home ..a camera crew sets up and we’re getting first hand reports. Sycamore canyon, Rattlesnake canyon and East Mountain are in flames ..less that a mile as the crow flies. I tell Dr Jones I’m not going to panic until I see flames burning on top of the ridge. I hear people going ‘ohhhh woooow' and I see flames shooting up from the top of the ridge ..trees combust ..and homes explode. Fire trickles down our side like lava. Someone hollers they’re evacuating anyone living around the bowl. Dr Jones and I head back. Now smoke is pouring out of the canyon where we live ..I feel another wave of panic. His wife is passing out wet towels. I wrap one around my face ..cinders fly ..helicopters circle ..a horse comes running out of nowhere and bolts onto Anapamu Street. Police block traffic and the owner corrals it. Bullhorns give evacuation orders. My eyes are burning and I’m throwing shit in my car. I move it out to Anapamu for a quick get away ..but police shout at me when I try to come back. I go around them by walking up the creek bed. I sit and water my roof until 2:00 am .. firefighters have battled the blaze to a halt just above us. I collapse to my knees in gratitude and pass out on a deck chair.