Traffic was already so congested from other fires in the area throughout
San Diego all morning that freeways were closed and no one could get to us even if they wanted to. It took us a while
to find the cat. Dad had two four-drawer file cabinets full of important papers for his apartments, etc. It seemed
like they weighed 500 lb. each, but we worked them down a few small stairs and over to the back of his truck. We
were going to leave them in the middle of his wide driveway, thinking they would be safe, but instead we loaded them
right into the back of the truck. And as it turned out they wouldn't have been safe in the middle of the drive. A covered
couch was there that was going to hauled away. A few hours later, just the springs and dust remained.
By two p.m., black smoke hit the top of the hill and within a minute a wall of flame probably more than one hundred
feet high was moving like a freight train along the entire hillside toward the house and our escape route down the drive.
Titanya ran to get her Dad, telling him time was up as I frantically loaded the last remaining things into three cars.
We sped down the hill as the flames and the most intense heat we have ever felt was right behind us. Dad was
the first down the driveway. The emergency brake on the car Titanya was driving jammed and so I got out of
the car to try to release it. Seconds later, she was forced to screech down the driveway with the emergency brake still stuck,
and with me right behind her. We were certain the house would be gone.
We
got to the bottom of the long drive and community road and waited with all of the other families and their pets as we watched
smoke and the quickly spreading fire, wondering whose homes were engulfed. We watched and heard propane tanks burst
into flame from the distance. We had found Dad's cat and put her into a pillowcase for safekeeping too, and she was safe with
us at the bottom of the hill. Titanya called her sister and said, "The house is gone .. It's burning down."
About forty minutes later, I started walking up the hill cautiously. We had to know if the house was gone. I
didn't know how close I could get, but thought I might be able to get close enough to at least know. One neighbor was still
up there at his home, trying to water down his roof and putting out little fires with his garden hose. I helped
him for a few minutes until another wave of flames came, but it suddenly shifted up, missing his home.
The house below Dad's was fully in flame. And other than this it appeared that almost everything had already
burned so I inched my way up to the house. Trees on three sides of the house (less than five feet away from the home)
were engulfed in flame. I ran around the entire house perimeter to scope things out. Lots of small fires
were everywhere. But the worst was that the wood plank cover to the septic tank that sat right next to the propane tank
was engulfed in flames. We had planned to turn off the propane tank as we were leaving the property, but in the end
there was no time. Still the flames were not too high so I thought I could put it out with a garden hose. But
when I turned the faucet there was no water. Most of the plastic pipes that brought water to the house had
melted. I tried shoveling dirt, but couldn't do this for long. The smoke got too thick and I couldn't see
or breathe, so I had to head down the hill a bit for air. Titanya's Dad told me there were fire extinguishers in
the shed at the back of the property and a neighbor reminded us there might be water in the Jacuzzi.
Titanya and I headed back up the property with our mouths covered, ready to see what we could do. The wind had
shifted a bit and the smoke was not as thick. The power poles were on fire and cracked in half and fell. I ran to the
back of the property to find the fire extinguishers but the sheds and everything in them had disintegrated, right in the direct
path of the wall of fire. I got the propane tank area out with buckets of water and was able to turn off the tank. I
realized when I did how hot the tank was and how lucky we were. We then proceeded to put all of the small fires out.
The danger had passed. Three days later, there were still areas in the ground that were smoking.
The house below is gone, including three cars with just the slab and the chimney remaining. Almost everything on the
entire nine acres is burned and gone. The trees that were next to the house that fully burned without touching the home
are a reminder to the miracle that took place on that Sunday that we will never forget.
Titanya's granfather was
a firefighter when he was alive, so perhaps he was watching over and helping out. Titanya grandmother was also very,
very protective of her house when she was living, so perhaps she too was keeping the flames at bay. And afterwards the house
did not have any evidence of scorch marks or smoke damage. It is a miracle.
