‘I panic really easily, and I’m not even panicking’

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Foothill Ranch, near Irvine:

The Ruffs stood in their backyard in Foothill Ranch, looking casual as fire raged about 100 feet away, flames shooting 40 feet in the air. Four or five firetrucks were parked on the street out front.

‘I panic really easily, and I’m not even panicking,’ said Linda Ruff. ‘We’ve packed up the cars and have our four cats ready to go, but I see it as exercise. And I’m going to get exercise again when I unpack everything and take it back into my home.’

The father, Robert Ruff, a geologist, said he expected such fires this year. His private geology firm had handled a few landslides in the last year, a tipoff to the bone-dry conditions to come.

‘I was expecting fires,’ he said, ‘I just wasn’t expecting them here.’

-- Tony Barboza