Ready, Aim, Fire!!!

As I was leaving home to run some errands on Thursday, I was immediately confronted by smoke and flames!  There was a brush fire less than a mile from my home, in between home and Jeff's office.  Over the tops of the trees and buildings, I could see the flames reaching skyward.  With the high temperatures that we have had lately, I was immediately filled with dread.  I could imagine the days cooped up in the house since the air was filled with smoke, the blackened hills stretching across Simi Valley bordered by pink strips of flame retardant.  It was not a pretty thought.  But as I returned home from my errands, I didn't see any plumes of smoke billowing from the ground, in fact, it appeared to have dissipated.  As I came closer to home, there weren't any flames licking at the sky.  I was amazed.  Our fire department had put the fire out!  In less than an hour, they had contained and squelched the fire, and it was all over.  I was so grateful for firefighters that are trained, prepared and ready to react to emergencies.  Within a day, the smoke was gone, and our hills look as brown as ever.  When compared to black, brown has never looked so good.