Fine wine and a cigar, as the foothills burn

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Foothill Ranch:

Dave Solo, 47, was sitting on his porch drinking a $300 bottle of Cabernet and smoking a cigar, as the fire crept down Borrego Canyon through the Foothill Ranch development at 4:15 p.m. Solo has a garage full of wine; he figured this may be the last time he gets to enjoy it. The flames were within 10 to 20 feet of the 2,000 homes on each side of the road, and many residents were evacuating.

Solo had sent his wife and two daughters to a nearby shopping center, where they were waiting for him to see if the fire gets so close he has to flee. ‘There’s a fire 30 feet behind my house and I have oak trees. Things are insignificant as long as I have my family waiting for me. Life is too short to worry about property,’ Solo said.

Then, with cigar in mouth, he got into his BMW sedan, and drove down the hill towards his wife and children.

-- Tony Barboza