Palisades
The sun has no mercy and the wind is grim. All it takes is a spark to light up the hillside. Birds explode from trees as fire crowns the ridge. Like a child doing cartwheels it bounds across the land. Firefighters climb with heavy gear yet flames consume the other side to shut down the highway. Santa Ana carries embers to new tinder. Columns of smoke rise. Angry dragon clouds form breathing more fire. Louder than a furious freight train it approaches. Packing to evacuate is a game of Tetris. How do you jam your whole life into a car? Survival is an apocalyptic movie flames flank the race out of town. In less than thirty minutes history erased lives displaced businesses, homes childhoods up in smoke. Scattered bricks mangled metal and soot are all that remain. But through the ash friends and strangers anonymous heroes reach out to make sure others don't have to experience this crisis alone. It's unthinkable catastrophes that bring out the best in humanity.