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be able to go home or what we would see when we got there. Randy's friend, Rick, called him to say that a news helicopter had flown over our house and that all around our house was burned, but it looked like our house was fine. While that was a huge relief, I had to see for myself. It felt like we sat at Stater Brothers for days. Finally, we saw the fire spread toward the Regional Park. I remember thinking that if the wind shifted, it could be a disaster for the families in Rolling Hills. Thankfully, that didn't happen. A couple of hours later, Randy called the public information office and they said that as long as we had identification, we could try to go back to our house. The sky was still very smoky and the air smelled charred. We turned onto Adams Street and a line of cars waited, showing their IDs to the Citizen Volunteer Patrol officers. We had heard that the entire field had burned where Via's Turkey Ranch used to be. Seeing that whole area blackened was a shock. I drove up our street. There were still four fire engines on our block. Thank God for their presence. It made me feel safer. The empty lot next to our house was black and tendrils of smoke still rose from the ground. As I looked toward our house, I saw the first bit of damage. The hedge that had grown for 14 years was now black on one side and yellow, dying, on the other. Randy was already home. I walked into our house and all was as we had left it. The smell of smoke was overwhelming but everything inside was intact. No damage at all. The backyard, however, was a different story. Randy walked around, looking down the hillside at the damage. There were no more trees. No more shrubs. No more life of any kind. Just black. I went over to him and we held each other. We walked around the backyard together, checking every inch of our yard. The damage was unbelievable. Two firefighters came from our neighbor's backyard to talk to us. They were both very young and I marveled that these young men risked their lives to save our home. As we thanked them, I started to cry. One of them asked if I was okay and gave me a hug. His compassion meant so much to me. As we stood by our still smoldering deck furniture, the firefighters began to tell us what had happened. They said that when they first came into our backyard, the flames were 100 feet tall and the temperature was nearly 1,000 degrees. They simply couldn't fight it. They retreated to the front yard to let the flames burn down. There, they resigned themselves to the fact that our house was probably going to burn. That statement rang in my ears. We nearly lost our house. Our dream house that we saved for, designed, built from the ground up, and lived in for 14 years. The home in which we raised our family, created memories, and to which we anticipated welcoming grandchildren. It was breathtaking how close we came to losing nearly everything. The firefighters walked around the backyard with us, pointing out things we hadn't noticed. They showed us where a hot spot was still smoldering and told us they were keeping an eye on it. They pointed to the edge of our Alumawood patio cover that had melted. "Fire" continued on page 14 Above, Randy Peters and the fire inspector look over the damage. Right, a boogie board melted into the landscape. OUR YUCAIPA | AUGUST 2013 9

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