Saving the drum sets and the avocados too

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Fallbrook:

Houses were burning Monday evening in Fallbrook hilltop canyons just north of Old Highway 395.

Rob and Jacqui Fisher said they were the last residents to leave Wilt Drive, chased by approaching flames. They had about an hour to evacuate the 2,000-square-foot ranch they rent. Rob, a 47-year-old musician, packed his pickup bed with several drum sets and other instruments. His wife filled up her minivan with just about everything she could squeeze in.

‘I’ve been packing every little thing I can,’ she said before they sped away down the hill, to where, they weren’t sure.

‘We’re homeless for now,’ Rob said.

Not far away, Trevor Newhouse and his dad gathered with relatives and friends, watching homes light up in flames across a small valley, along Vern Drive. They had saved their 6,000-square-foot ranch and most of their 12 acres of avocados -- for now -- thanks to his aunt and uncle, Jonathan and Melody Bitting, who turned on every sprinkler in their home and orchard. When Trevor and his dad arrived. they all picked up hoses and kept the fire away as it made its first run at them.

The group kept watch until the wind pushed hard, and a new little spot fire began burning on the side of the valley where they were standing.

‘We gotta get out of here,’ Trevor said to everyone.

With night falling, popping and crackling could be heard all around as spot fires broke out and homes burned along Vern and Citrus drives. ‘The good thing is, I’m not seeing any flames near our house,’ said Trevor Newhouse, watching the roof burn on a big home nearby. ‘But that’s not good. That’s somebody’s home.’

-- Christine Hanley