By now ash was falling through the smoke, and the air was rapidly getting darker.

I’m on my way home,” he said.Įven though it seemed premature, Ben brought the car to the front door, and I asked Adam and Jeff to carry out my most cherished possessions, a framed work of art of mostly sentimental value to me, inherited from my father.

“Get the car and put the valuables in just in case. I’m getting a little concerned.”ĭon advised me to prepare to evacuate. “Are you kidding? Of course! I’ve already closed all the windows. He had seen the smoke and wanted to make sure I had. It was my husband, Don, who had left the house about a half hour earlier and was near downtown Berkeley. I hung up and went back to thinking about breakfast when the phone rang. Well, I’ll come up and hose down your roof if it gets any smokier around here,” I said lightly. I called a neighbor to be sure she was aware, and got her answering machine. “Yes, we know about it, firefighters are on the scene,” said the voice on the other end of 911 in a reassuringly bored tone. We saw black plumes rising from over the hill. At 11:00, my visitors – my best friend’s son, Ben Ehrenreich, and his two best friends, Adam and Jeff – and I went outside to see where the smoke was coming from.

Close all windows firestorm