'Grey's Anatomy' actor flees one fire zone for another

It's enough to drive Joe the bartender to drink.

Steven W. Bailey, who plays the portly drink-slinger on the hit TV medical show "Grey's Anatomy," lives in the Silver Lake area near Los Angeles' Griffith Park, which went up in flames earlier this week.

He and his wife were not in any danger from the fire that blackened more than 800 acres (320 hectares) but after a couple of days they were ready for a change of scenery.

"You had the smoke and you could see the flames and you could see helicopters overhead," Bailey said. "Two days of that is enough."

"We decided on Thursday we would go to Catalina and get some fresh air _ and when we got there, it was on fire."

As they approached by ferry, Bailey pointed out a cloud over the island to his wife and joked: "It looks like there's a fire over Catalina."

It was, in fact, the plume from a 4,000-acre (1,600-hectare) blaze that erupted Thursday. It dwarfed the size of the one in Griffith Park and forced hundreds of people to evacuate the city of Avalon, where Bailey was headed.

They arrived around 2:30 p.m., before the blaze was threatening the city. However, they were not allowed to check into their hotel. The couple spent a couple of hours eating and having drinks at a local restaurant.

"The sky got darker and darker and the ash got thicker and thicker," Bailey said. "The mood changed."

Some people in the restaurant began to worry about having to flee their homes, he said.

Bailey and his wife, Anneliese Boies, eventually took a ferry home. Some of the other passengers were refugees from the fire.

But like any good bartender, Bailey was philosophical about the disruption to his vacation.

"My wife and I were (only) inconvenienced," he said. "God, I met some people last night who were carrying their cat in a cat carrier and had every piece of luggage in their house they could find."

"You look in their eyes and you see some people who are wondering whether they can get back in their homes," he said. "I'm hoping all those people are all right."