Nothing but brush between the fire and their homes

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San Diego County:

In a valley just east of highway 15, and north of the 76 (just off the exit), Jim King was among a small crowd gathered along a dirt road, watching giant flames climb the hillside off Rice Canyon road, about a mile away.

King rents an old 1970s home in Rice Canyon, and says it is full of ranches and avocado groves.

He was awakened by firefighters rapping on his door about 4:30 am. He saw several small spot fires burning about a half-mile beyond his backyard. They had lost electricity. In the pitch dark, he and his wife grabbed some clothes, and their cat, ‘October.’

‘I don’t know if my house burned down or not,’ he said, pointing to the ridge as leaping flames crested the hill and strong gusts pushed south.

‘Oh man, it’s going to push this way. There’s nothing in between but brush.’

That wasn’t good news to the others gathered with him. Many own homes in a tract called Valley Center. They had not yet been evacuated officially, and were watching and waiting to see whether they would be spared.

Throughout the afternoon, the wall of flames in the distance only seemed to get closer.

‘We’ve always been surrounded by fire. But it has never touched us,’ said Michael Hart, 53, standing with two of his three children. ‘This is out of control. It’s never come over here. And this one they haven’t been able to put out right away,’ he said, pointing towards the fire. ‘That does not look good.’

Like other Valley Center residents, Hart had the family packed and ready to go on a moment’s notice.

Hart’s neighbors, Wayne and Lavena Ihms, just bought their home in June. They and others feared they only had a couple of hours before the flames reached their community.

‘There’s nobody stopping it,’ said Wayne Ihms. ‘You can feel the wind, can’t you?’

-- Christine Hanley