Wildfire, Escape Rooms, and Pie

I knew too much about the fire when I looked out my window and saw flames above us on the mountain near Painted Cave. As one of two foothill neighborhood representatives on the team developing a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP), I’d seen the modeling for this fire. Our neighborhood lacked enough egress back in 1990 during the Paint Fire. Since then, another 30 homes have been built but no new roads out. Not wanting to be in the way if it got crowded getting out or distract the firefighters, I quickly grabbed an overnight bag and left my home in minutes.

From 10 miles away, I watched as the fire came down the hill to my street. Just a half hour before, I’d been ready to whip together pumpkin, eggs, and spices, about to make a pumpkin pie that Monday for Thanksgiving, because it tastes better when it’s been chilled. I’d planned around Edison’s power outage announced for Tuesday that could last more than a day, an outage plan based on high fire risk — low humidity and high winds.

As I looked to San Marcos Pass, I could recognize exactly
where the orange flames danced in the dark sky. Years ago I had scanned all my
pre-digital photos and important papers, and I tried not to think about all the
memories I left in my house without time to say goodbye.