'NOTHING SHORT OF A MIRACLE' FIRE DAMAGE AT A MINIMUM.Byline: Jason Kandel Staff Writer MALIBU - A day after a wind-whipped fire ripped through 2,200 acres of Malibu hillsides, residents returned home Tuesday to survey the damage and count their blessings. Residents in Encinal and Trancas canyons spent the day unloading vehicles packed with family heirlooms, photos, computers and other precious items. Others called in cleaning companies to brush away to remove, as with a brush or brushing motion. See also: Brush caked ash. Some sat back and claimed victory against Mother Nature. ``This is like a victory,'' said Joyce Bullock, 71, who lives on Avenida de la Encinal. ``All these homes were saved. It's just amazing.'' Across the street, John Kornuc, 43, who built a cedar house in 1989, was overjoyed o·ver·joy tr.v. o·ver·joyed, o·ver·joy·ing, o·ver·joys To fill with joy; delight. o his house sustained no damage. ``I'm just elated,'' said the defense contractor Noun 1. defense contractor - a contractor concerned with the development and manufacture of systems of defense armed forces, armed services, military, military machine, war machine - the military forces of a nation; "their military is the largest in the region"; . ``I just thought that there was a good chance the house wouldn't survive.'' Actor Cheech Marin “Richard Marin” redirects here. For the investment banker, see Richard Marin (investment banker). Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin (born July 13, 1946) is an American comedian and actor, who gained recognition as part of the comedy act Cheech and Chong during the said he had installed sprinklers to soak vegetation around his Malibu-area home after losing a barn and garage to a 1978 fire. The latest fire ``jumped around - all over, boy,'' Marin told The Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. . ``What I knew from the fires last time is they are extremely capricious.'' Heidi Hutchinson-Apple, another Encinal Canyon resident, returned home to find her two cats, Cosmo and Karma karma or karman (kär`mə, kär`mən), [Skt.,=action, work, or ritual], basic concept common to Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. , cowering cow·er intr.v. cow·ered, cow·er·ing, cow·ers To cringe in fear. [Middle English couren, of Scandinavian origin.] under the house. Firefighters posted in her back yard used water from her pool to fight walls of flames that stopped eight feet from her property line. ``This is a miracle,'' said Hutchinson-Apple as she surveyed her yard. A dead rabbit, black ash leaves and other debris floated in the half-empty pool. ``This is nothing short of a miracle.'' As residents readjusted, firefighters from across the region continued to mop up hot spots hot spots acute moist dermatitis. in the charred hills along Pacific Coast Highway Pacific Coast Highway may refer to:
Firefighters were looking forward to a milder wind day today, with forecasts predicting 15 to 25 mph winds throughout the day, with high temperatures expected to drop into the 70s after days of record and near-record heat. The reduced gusts would decrease the possibility of flare-ups. Fire officials scanned hillsides Tuesday night with infrared cameras to search for burning embers, known in fire parlance as ``cat eyes.'' Officials will remain on the scene until Friday in a mop-up mode. ``Tonight, we're going to baby-sit,'' said Los Angeles County Fire Department Not to be confused with Los Angeles Fire Department. The Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD), serves unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County, as well as 58 cities and towns that choose to have the county provide fire and EMS services, including the City of La Assistant Chief Paul A. Schuster, the incident commander. ``Tomorrow, we start finding hot spots. Burning embers are like incendiary INCENDIARY, crim. law. One who maliciously and willfully sets another person's house on fire; one guilty of the crime of arson. 2. This offence is punished by the statute laws of the different states according to their several provisions. bombs.'' The blaze, now known as the Pacific Fire, caused minimal damage, a fact officials credited to recent rainfall and excellent brush clearance programs. There were no reports of injuries. Three homes and one car were damaged. Officials also celebrated the fact that the fierce winds pushed the blaze toward the coast and not inland. The fire's footprint from the air was described as about four miles long and between a mile and a mile-and-a-half wide. ``We were fortunate because we had the rains,'' Schuster said. ``If they didn't have brush clearance, they would have been losing homes.'' Firefighters stood by their rigs Tuesday, parked on narrow hillside roads, to make sure embers did not kick up. Vernon Fire Department Battalion Chief Mike Wilson and his four-man crew stood by in Encinal Canyon on structure-protection duty. They had been working into a 24-hour shift as residents passed by and thanked them for their work. ``We got a lot of thank-yous,'' he said. ``We got Twinkies, and a few little things.'' In Trancas Canyon, Richard Reynolds was recovering from a harrowing night. The 51-year-old man said he spent the night watching 50-foot flames lick his home on Ana Capa View. He cooled himself off by dousing himself in water from a bucket as he stood on his roof. His house was saved, as the fire went around his property. He has a 100- foot buffer zone between the dense chaparral around his home and his garden. He described the fire as a snake. ``It's got that hiss,'' he said. ``It sounds like a snake hissing, cracking. It has a breath to it. It's really unnerving un·nerve tr.v. un·nerved, un·nerv·ing, un·nerves 1. To deprive of fortitude, strength, or firmness of purpose. 2. To make nervous or upset. . It kind of sucks the energy out of you.'' CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1 -- color) Along Decker Canyon Road on Tuesday, firefighters douse douse 1 also dowse v. doused also dowsed, dous·ing also dows·ing, dous·es also dows·es v.tr. 1. To plunge into liquid; immerse. See Synonyms at dip. 2. traces of the Pacific Fire. Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer (2) Firefighters pull the line back from a hillside in Malibu late Monday night. Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer (3) Heidi Hutchison-Apple stands by melted patio furniture at her Malibu home Tuesday. Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer |
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