5:20 in the evening, which is before dusk because that s when the animals want their dinner. and that s when i saw the smoke. it was a clear blue sky. and out beyond us over the mountains, it looked look somebody had taken a pencil and drawn a single wisp y line. it was just one single little plume in the sky. and that was the start of it. what started as a puff of smoke turned into a monster, but those in its path had no idea their lives were about to change forever. coming up i just remember the smoke alarm going off. he was just yelling i smell smoke. concerned began to spread that the flames are spreading faster. the ash, it almost looks like snow. you know the fire s coming toward you. i said this is going to be
when he said i need to video our contents for the insurance company, i need to grab the camera and quickly take video, that s when i knew how worried he really was. i m going to get the fire pump out and leave it. at one point i decided to call my friend bob. i said, bob, there s a fire, you need to be aware of it but it s coming at us. can you come over and help us prepare? my mom s was a safe place to go. the fire was to our east. so there s no way the fire s going to get to my mom s, who is to the west. yeah, that s the way the fire is going but it s ten miles away. the thing we start noticing is the ash. it almost looks like snow. when the ash starts falling on you, then up knyou know the fir coming towards you. and then it s just like oh [ bleep ], that s the fire. i mean, that is like step up your game. you got to get going. with no fire fighting help
flame driven santa ana fire is the most deadly kind fire that we have in southern california because the combination of dryness and the wind speed means the fire can travel at 60 to 80 miles an hour, the head of the fire. and i knew at that point that it was going to be really bad. and i said to thomas, who at that point had joined me up on the roof, this is going to be bad, isn t it? and he said, yes, it is. it was moving faster than we thought it was. what the fire was doing is it was spotting. when i say that it means that you have a flame front and then out in front you have a different fire starting because embers are getting thrown out, you know, a half a mile, mile ahead. so new fires are starting. i had all these things going on in my head. what are we going to do with the baby, with all the animals? i had to make the right decisions because you know, making the wrong decision gets people killed.
within five minutes it went to complete black where we couldn t see, heat, fire. the next thing i hear is john screaming, you know, get out now! as we were getting ready to leave, i came out and reached for the front door, opened the front door and was immediately hit with a blast of hot air and embers and fire all over the carpeting in front of me. in a panicky just turned, yelled in the house everybody get out now. the front porch on the edge was on fire. i hear my dad from the middle area of our house just screaming it s here, run! and i look out the door of my bedroom and i have a clear shot down to the other end of the house and there s embers flying into the house. ashley has her dresses in her