121-fire_12-5-11_14••

It was hot.

This happened Monday morning Dec. 5, 2011. I was standing on the balcony when I shot it. There's an alley out back and this row of cypresses line the wall opposite where they have been remodeling. Turns out a squirrel jumped onto one of the power lines and broke it. Patti heard popping noises in the living room ... you know me, hard of hearing, didn't hear shit. It was the 'lectric cable zapping and next thing you know the spark jumped to the cypresses and they went up like a roman candle on the 4th of July.

I only got the one shot of the flames and the video because the heat was pretty intense. Then, the fire dept. came -- 5 minutes flat -- and got it under control using this foam stuff. I swear it looked like white Christmas. I'll be posting some more pics on Flickr for a panoramic, fumetti-style algorithm.

it could have been a disaster if the wind blew the other way. The FD here is truly talented and the cops had it all wrapped up within the hour.

We did have a cracked window pane, and some residual foam detritus, but praise the lord amen!

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Fire
• Beverly Hills
• cypress trees
• squirrel
• power lines
• foam retardant