June 8, 2004

• Illusion of Fire

  Streamers of smoke came over the tops of ridges as if the fire was just on the other side. The smell of fire hung heavy in the air.

  Panicked residents called emergency services to ask where the fire was. Fire trucks, some with their sirens going, cruised the streets and freeways, searching for the fire. Helicopters circled overhead, searching for the fire in San Diego.

  There were actually two fires contributing their smoke to San Diego, but neither was here. Several houses were burning in Tijuana, Mexico, and there was a brush fire in Santa Barbara. Freak weather conditions, a rotating air mass, brought the smoke from those two distant fires to San Diego in such a way that the fire seemed just over the next rise.

  It was a mistake, strange weather creating the illusion that San Diego was burning again.

  This time.

  • 10:15
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