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Descriptive Essay: Surviving The Fire

1123 Words5 Pages

Surviving the Fire It’s Sunday October 26th, 2003, 1:30am in the morning and a neighbor calls complaining of smoke. Peggy and Harry Ekstein from across the road from Silverwood were frantic over the amount of smoke-filled air that had woken them up. I staggered half asleep across the living room of the Silverdell residence and opened the front door. In that moment, seeing the thick smoke and wind whipping through the oak canopies, a sence of impending doom triggered an overwhelming heartfelt sinking feeling in my stomach. All of your being enters into context, not an attitude; you will either win or lose. I told Peggy I had to drive down to see where the fire is and would call back. Driving out along Wildcat Canyon Road around two miles past the Barona Tribal Center I pulled off the side of the road with an SDG&E lineman truck. As we both got out of our vehicles to watch a wall of flames whipping down a mountain side, I turned to the lineman and said I need to make some phone calls. He said you don’t have much time. …show more content…

My only thought driving back home was how to call and explain to Silverwood assistant Lori Gleghorn about the approaching fire storm as she awakes to the 2am call. Dashing to the phone I make the call, calmly explaining there is no time to think; just load the animals and get out now. Then called Peggy and Harry to just get their dogs and get out now. I then called my parents who ran a wildlife rehab center in Muth Valley with hundreds of raccoons, grey foxes, bobcats in runs and flight cages with raptors and

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