Santa Barbara Fire Song in Three Parts

by Dennis Nord

  She jerked her head about as she raced through the house looking for anything important. She packed another load to the car.

  To Rose she said, “Called Dad. He left work. Be here soon.” Then to Joe, “If you’re tired buddy, get in the back. You’ll be OK there. Let me know! Gotta know where you are.”

  Rose pulled clothes out for her brother and herself. She didn’t know how long they’d be gone. Maybe their home would burn. Maybe not. Better take enough she thought. She wondered if she needed any of it.

  All of it or none of it. Can’t take it all, why take any?

  At the same time she was carrying things to the car. Her mind was intent on making sense out of what to do. She saw burning embers tumbling, flying down the street. Her cell phone rang.

  “Hey, what’s up?”

  It was her boyfriend, Aaron.

  “I’m packin’ up to leave!”

  “Leave! What’s that about?”

  “Fire Aaron! Just down the street!”

  Rose felt Aaron didn’t know what was happening around him half the time. She liked him, but wondered what he could be thinking at times like this.

  “Oh, yeah, your street? Do ya need help or anything?”

  At least he responds once he figures it out, she thought.

  “No, don’t come. No, don’t. Lots of sirens. Trucks everywhere, just crazy! Think we’re fine. Mom’s really cautious. Wants to go ‘fore it gets worse. Thinks it will, get worse.”

  “Oh, good. I mean, good you’re getting out. Can you see the fire?” Asked Aaron.

  “Aaron, gotta go! Need both hands. Call soon as ...”

  She hung up and ran down the stairs with a basket full of clothes to throw in the car.

  ~~~

  “Let’s go to Lizard’s Mouth, I know a place we can hang out and not be bothered,” said Mike. “Who we taking?”

  “Ask anyone you think is fun. We’ll be back before late. Oh, ask the new girl you met, see if she wants to go,” Angela was still looking for a hoody to wear. “She said she wanted to go next time.”

  “Do we need anything? I got some drinks and chips. What else?” Mike called out.

  Lizards had become a favorite spot. They went up every couple of weeks to hang out on the rocks, usually on a week-night to avoid the crowd. Sometimes they went rock hopping or bouldering during the day. It was a quiet break from being a student. From there they could see the valley below and out across the Channel, especially nights when the moon was full.

  “Exams are coming. I gotta be back to study tonight,” Holly told Angela. “Maybe I should take my car? I don’t want to get stuck.”

  “Yeah, good idea, I’ll ride with you, OK?” answered Angela. “I might have an exam coming up. Who knows?” She laughed while looking at Holly.

  “Anyone got blankets or towels to sit on?” Mike called. “Come on guys, we need to move it or the night’ll be over and we’ll still be sitting around talking about it.”

  Neil was putting things in the back.

  “I think we’re ready, let’s roll.”

  Two cars wheeled across town, through intersections and out to the freeway. They started up San Marcos Pass. The others would meet them out there. Mike told Neil to call and let them know of any change in location.

  “Instead of Lizards, I got a new place. Scouted it last week. Not so far. Drop down off the road and there’s a cool place no one can see. We have it to ourselves. Tell ‘em look for my car. We’ll wait before going down.”

  Mike liked creating new things for his friends to do. Tonight it was a change in location. It would be intriguing; them wondering what was up.

  “How do you get time for all this?” asked Neil. “You’re always finding new places in town or out in the boonies.”

  “Just looking around. Not hard. I have lots of time I guess.” He looked sideways at Neil.

  They pulled off Highway 154 where the sign says, “West Camino Cielo.” They traveled through the Kinevan canyon past the tight rocks and around a hairpin and past sandstone cliffs. They chattered about the basketball season, exams and papers and about friends they had in common. Where the road topped the ridge, they caught views of the lights of Goleta and Santa Barbara. People fell silent, just looking to see the road, bobbing right and left, up and down. Patches and chuckholes kept the cars bouncing and moving slowly.

  Mike drove in the lead, making sure he didn’t lose anyone. Two more cars caught up and he assumed those were the rest of the gang. They left from another part of town. They passed the last houses, at least there weren’t any more lights. Mike knew there were a few places tucked away from the road, though he didn’t know if they had electricity. Some he saw in daylight, but never lights at night. They passed an old park below the road. He had thought about going there tonight, but it was too close to the road. He wanted a more isolated place.

  ~~~

  Rose shut the back of the car.

  “No more Mom! The car is full,” she called out, “Time to go. Look at the fire!”

  For the first time in several minutes, Rose stopped to really look. It was rolling down the street through the bushes and plants in front of condos and houses. It was caressing the side of a building with gentle flicks. She heard the roar and loud crackling, ominous in its approach. One house, burning through the roof lit up the windows, bright red.

  “Hey, let’s go! This is serious!”

  “Where’s Joe? In the car?” Mom twisted and stood on tip toe.

  “Don’t see ‘im. He was still upstairs,” said Rose.

  Her brother had been running back and forth. She didn’t know where he was. She saw Mom look around. She went for the house. Rose wondered what to do. She saw people from up the street streaming by with stuffed cars. Everything was happening fast. Where was Joe? She broke her trance and went to find her little brother.

  “Can’t leave him! Musta gone ‘round the back or somethin’.”

  Rose ran back of the house, looking frantically and yelling, “Joe! Joe!” No response. The roar of the fire blocked her voice. He wouldn’t hear her. She looked up in the tree house thinking that would be stupid, but who knows? Not there either.

  Rose turned back towards the house, anxious to find Mom so they were in contact. She saw her holding Joe by one arm.

  “Let’s go Buddy, no more room for anything,” Mom was saying.

  While he was quiet, he was also looking back at the house. Maybe he was thinking about what he left behind, Rose thought. Night we’ll all remember!

  Rose considered what had happened from the front seat by her mom.

  Where did the fire come from? It seemed late in the season. Why now?

  She was thinking about friends.

  Did they get out of their houses? What was going to happen to her house? Did it matter?

  She felt the buzz of excitement and dread, that age-old archetype; fire, the destroyer and re-newer. She looked back up the street for a last view as they pulled out.

  They headed out into the street. Dad hadn’t arrived yet.

  “Call Dad will ya? Tell him we’re leaving. Fire’s too close, tell ‘im don’t come. Meet at Junior High. It’s close enough to see the fire.”

  Rose opened her cell phone, speed dialed and waited for him to pick up.

  Mom drove, her jaw clenched and eyes gleaming straight ahead. They entered the growing slow stream of cars trying to escape the fire. A dark car with no lights careened down a drive ahead of them.

  “Look out!” Mom screamed.

  A car jolted theirs. The bumpers struck at an angle. Mom’s car came to a halt with a judder, the antilock breaks kept it from skidding. The other car continued into the street ahead of them. The back of the car hit them again as the other driver wheeled around sharply and kept going. They were rocked with the double jolt.

  Rose’s seat belt grabbed her across the chest and lap, biting in sharply. She winced and cried out, “Oomph!”

  “Hey!” Mom had
her arm out the window and was yelling. As fast as she began she quit.

  “What’s the point?” she said. “We gotta get out of here. At least the car’s still running. You kids OK?”

  She turned to look at Joe in the back seat.

  “Yeah Mom, what’s happening? People are nuts!” Joe said in return.

  A pair of cars rushed by going two abreast using the left lane. Everyone wanted out of the path of the fire. Both lanes filled with cars jockeying for movement. A cop waved them through the intersection and they kept moving.

  ~~~

  On the ledge, Mike found they were all gathered around the rocky overlook. They were not far off the road, and not visible. They couldn’t see the road or cars.

  “Wow, another great view Mikey! This is cool,” exclaimed Aaron.

  “We can see a hundred miles.”

  “Further than that! How far do you think those stars are? Light years, that’s what. That’s the long view,” replied Mike looking up at the stars covering the sky.

  Mike pulled in some rocks to sit on and kicked open a bare spot down to the dirt and began laying out rocks for a tight little ring.

  “Get some dry wood. I saw some small, dead stuff over that way.”

  “Hey dude, we don’t need a fire, its warm enough. Just gets everyone all smoky.”

  “Just a little fire. It’s friendly and I got marshmallows.”

  How could you say no to that? Mike always had a plan and simple things to make an outing better.

  Angela saw what Mike was up to and said, “Hey, aren’t you worried about fires? I mean it’s dry around here.”

  “Got it covered,” Mike held up a gallon of water. “We can douse it with this before we leave, no sweat!”

  He sounded so confident, who could doubt him?

  Rose settled down beside Aaron and put her arms around him, snuggling close.

  “Nice night,” she said up close in his ear.

  ~~~

  Rose glared out the window after the smashup in front of their house. She wanted to avoid another idiot ramming them. Dad picked up the phone. They agreed to meet at the Junior High.

  Rose thought about the campfire they had last night.

  Did Mike get it out? Must have, she thought. He had water to put on it. I watched him pour it out and saw the steam from it. Then the dirt Mike and Aaron kicked over it.

  Still she wondered. Her brain played with what she knew, Big wind tonight. Might not take much to blow a spark to life, what they always say. Awfully dry! Big wind. Wow! Did this fire start over there? Over by Camino Cielo? It is sure dry! Oh, man, that just can’t be!

  She twisted and looked back towards her house. While racing to load the car, she hadn’t considered where the fire came from. Everything blurred while they were getting out.

  Will the house be there tomorrow? Will we go back tomorrow? Will we have a place to live? Did we really get the fire out last night? Could our little fire have done this? Will anyone find out? I mean IF it did start it? How would they find out? How would you know?

  Rose’s mind had time to skip through images of fire, the scene last night, worries about what maybe happened while talking to herself. Her mom’s car snarled to a halt with the traffic.

  She looked at Mom. Rose’s brow knitted as she considered the consequences of what might have happened. She pushed her palms down the tops of her shorts to dry.

  What would she think if she found out we started this fire? No way! We put it out. I saw it go out…didn’…didn’t I? What if I burned down my family’s house? Oh no, oh no! don’t let it be so.

  Rose almost stood in the car as she considered her responsibility for this fire. Was she guilty? Her head throbbed and she saw fire everywhere. She calmed momentarily and considered if the fire could have come from West Camino Cielo and come here to her street.

  It doesn’t make sense, can’t be, look it’s over there!

  She turned in her seat looking up the mountain, trying to see where West Camino Cielo was and whether it looked like the fire had come all the way from there.

  Doesn’t look right. Looked like it came from further over, nearer our street.

  Mom asked her, “Rose, what are you looking at? You’ve been looking all over. You’re so antsy and worried.”

  Mom, you wouldn’t believe how worried I am! She shrieked in her head and Rose said, “I’m looking to see if the fire is above us here on the hills. Looking to see if we’re safe.”

  “What do you see? Anything I should know? Gotta keep my eyes on these idiots, oh there’s Sandy!”

  “Nothing, just dark up there right now. Least I can’t see more fire that way.”

  It IS dark up there, if that’s where the fire started. If the fire started from our campfire, wouldn’t it be on fire across there, up there higher?

  She eased back her anxiety a bit. It wasn’t their campfire at all. At the same time she flicked the radio on searching for fire reports. The news was all about her neighborhood and people fleeing the fire. She looked in the rearview mirror and saw the fire was still coming, but maybe they were safe for now.

  The radio came alive, “Don’t wait for someone to tell you to evacuate! If you think it is near, its time to get out.” The radio was rolling through advice and facts all at once. “Let’s not have people getting out too late and getting caught. Many of those streets are narrow and things will get crowded really fast. We have fire trucks and other equipment headed into the area. We need all the room we can to operate. Stay AWAY!”

  She knew that already. What she wanted to hear was where the fire started.

  “Come on, let’s hear where it started!” she blurted aloud without thinking.

  “Rose, its OK honey, right now it doesn’t matter where it started,” Mom tried to soothe her anxiety. “We’re getting away. Things are going to be OK.”

  Rose started talking to herself silently again, It’s going to be OK. I gotta watch what I say! It’s going to be OK. I don’t think the fire started up there on the mountain. It’s going to be OK. I didn’t start the fire!

  She realized she was sweating. She looked at her mother and decided Mom wasn’t sweating. She looked at Joe’s face pressed between the seats so he could see out the front better. He didn’t seem to sweat either. Rose felt hot, really hot.

  Well, it is hot. The fire and the wind made it hot and I was running around. Well, it’s being afraid and feeling guilty too. Maybe we didn’t start it. I hope we didn’t. I didn’t make the fire, Mike did. I didn’t stop him either. Mike put it out, I saw him.

  Her mind just kept racing and wouldn’t let it go.

  ~~~

  Mike looked the fire over again before they left the fire ring. He raked the steaming ash and water with a forked stick. He put the flashlight on it and saw smoke and steam rising.

  “Better wait. Let’s get it out.”

  Rose headed for the car.

  Mike reached down and threw a double handful of dirt onto the fire and Aaron did the same. More and more dirt went on it. Mike mixed the mess together with bare hands, wet ashes, dirt, and more water. It felt like chunky molasses. Back and forth he ran through it. He whacked the larger pieces to see if any sparks remained. He separated the larger chunks of burnt wood from each other after rubbing them together to loosen any possible spark. With the flashlight off, he saw no sparks.

  “See anything Aaron? Neil?” Mike asked.

  “Nope, think you got it. It really wasn’t that big to begin with.” Neil answered.

  Mike bent over and felt the air just above the mess with his big hands spread wide.

  Warm, humid, but not real hot, he thought.

  He eased his fingers into the mixture. He felt a little burn and jerked his hand out. He turned the turd of mud and ash over. He saw a spark and crushed it with his fingers with a rapid movement.

  “What’re you doing?” asked Aaron.

  “Making sure.”

  Mike continued pawing through
and mashing out sparks until he could hold any of it in his hand without burning. He took a wad of muddy ash and rubbed down the bigger sticks with it.

  “Nasty!” Mike exclaimed when he was satisfied. “Just nasty putting out a fire.”

  He stood a little longer looking at it in the dark.

  “OK guys, let’s go.”

  He brushed his hands rapidly together to get the worst muddy ash off. At the car he pulled out an old towel to rub off the remaining mess before sitting down to drive. A little water was left and he poured it on his hands and toweled off again.

  “Everyone ready for cramming? Go get ‘em. Exams!” he yelled before they drove off.

  ~~~

  Rose was about to release her fear that their fire caused the conflagration until they rounded a curve in the street where she could see up the mountain. One whole canyon was burning live lava pouring out of a volcano! It was a blow to her gut.

  “Ufff!” Said Rose.

  “What? What Rose?” Mom asked.

  Rose was seeing proof their fire got away. There it was rolling right down the mountain now that they were past the ridge that had blocked her view. She didn’t hear Mom ask about her exclamation.

  “Rose! Look at that fire! Wow! Never seen it like that!”

  Her mom looked back at the traffic ahead since she had to pay close attention. They were moving freely again, making better time.

  “Call Dad. Tell him to get further away! Let’s go to the Plaza.” She turned, saw Rose just looking up the canyon, “Rose! Call dad!”

  Rose opened her phone and speed dialed Dad again and told him to meet at the Plaza. “Too much fire. It might not be safe at the Junior High. Mom wants to keep going.”

  “Can I talk to Dad?” asked Joe.

  Rose had already closed the phone.

  “Wow Mom, the fire. It’s so big!” said Rose.

  She felt devastated knowing they unleashed this monster on the city, her friends, her family. She slumped in the seat making herself as small as possible. How could they do this? They just went out to have fun!

  They got to the Plaza and found Dad. Her mom and brother got out and began talking all at once to Dad. Rose stayed in the car.

  “Rose, come on, come on hon. We’re going where we can see the fire better.”

  They were walking away across the parking lot for a view of their neighborhood on fire. Rose crawled out of the car feeling defeated.