I left the office for a bite and I noticed a ribbon of smoke south of Burbank. I thought that there must be a fire near Universal City and I was right. Nothing I could do so I went to lunch. It was on the drive back that felt the effects of an intense and thankfully, short lived wildfire. Falling ashes, a strange haze and the smell of burning leaves!
Not a good feeling, but like I said, It was short lived.
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Interestingly reminicent of the Oakland Hills fire of 1991. I was working on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley the day that the Oakland Hills went up in smoke. I count that as one of the most surreal days of my life.
(I think it was worse for Erik Larsen, who lost his home that day. Poor guy.)
I was in the city then, on Divisadero not far from Haight, and remember seeing ash falling from the sky. I picked up a larger piece and it was a burnt bit of a book. Not clear what kind of a book, but I could make a out a few words. I thought it was from a nearby fire, until we heard the news. Wish I'd kept it, although that's kind of macabre.
Even much father away from the fire, it was still kind of surreal.
Thankfully, No one was hurt in that Hollywood Hills flare-up.
Thinking back on it now, I thing the strangest thing about the Oakland Hills fore, at least for me, was the way that the smoke from the fire BLOTTED OUT THE SUN! Standing on Telegraph, looking south, the smoke rose in the air and turned the light of the sun first a deep orange, and then... nothing. Black. I stood in a deep, terrifying shadow, looking up at a billowing tower of smoke as the smell of burning eucalyptus began to roll down the hillside. And what made it so surreal for me, including the color and the sight and the smell, was the silence of the street, Telegraph is normally a bustling and noisy place, and the feeling that I was NOT in any particular danger, although all of my senses would seem to indicate that I was. It was like a dream.
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