Two kinds of fire...

There are two different kinds of fire out there. The first requires patience and preparation. Last week I went out to my smoker and lit up a chimney full of charcoal and began to soak some grape vines in water. The coals eventually turned white and I dumped them haphazardly into the base pan to begin the heating process. Meanwhile it was time to grab out the salmon that I had been curing in the fridge overnight and prepare it for the trip onto the smoker.

After an hour and a couple of homemade beers later, it was time to place the fish onto the grill and allow the lovely grapevine smoke to do its magic. The trick to this is to make sure that you don't overpower the fish with too much smoke, while at the same time making sure the heat isn't too hot or cold. It is a delicate thing. A thing to do slowly and patiently. A thing to sit down by and watch as the smoke gently wisps out from under the lid and you sip a cold beverage.


When you look to showcase the flavors correctly, it will take a couple of hours under low heat to achieve the perfect goal of light, flaky, moist and smokey fish. It is a thing of patience and preparation.

That being said, there is another kind of fire. The kind that is fast, furious and doesn't wait for anything or anyone. This kind of fire can only be described one way...serious.

I was outside throwing the ball for the dogs yesterday and decided that it was time for a quick sip of water on the hot day that it was. I tossed the ball one last time, stepped inside and walked a couple short steps towards the cupboard. Outside my front window I saw a pickup truck speed by with a CalFire emblam on the side and thought to myself, "Self, they must be late for lunch or something, because nobody drives that fast down the cul-de-sac." I grabbed my glass and went for the water while peering out my back window at the brilliant sunny day. Then the sun was blocked out. Strange, I thought. I leaned closer to the window and looked towards the sun for a tree or something and noticed a little bit of smoke. I didn't think that you would barbecue at ten in the morning, but hey, some folks do things outside the box. Then the smoke turned black and I thought, that looks like a car or something must be on fire. So I stepped outside. That smoke is very close to my house and billowing out, there are sirens in the background.

I run out the front door and look down the block only to see a humongous house fire burning not four houses down the street. The men in the pickup truck are running around yelling if there is anyone inside the house. The flames are tearing out of the garage and you can hear the heat exploding containers inside. Then arrived three fire trucks, followed by as many onlookers in their vehicles. The fire still raced ahead, collapsing the roof of the garage and moving on to the fence and the main part of the house. Then the firemen scrambled to attach hoses to the hydrant, more trucks arrived, more onlookers arrived, everyone was outside.

The water finally started flowing and there were three or four hoses trying to save what they could. Firemen running in and out of the house, neighbors worried that the fire might spread, people arriving by the dozens to see what was happening. I ran inside to call a neighbor whose house might be affected and then ran back out to make sure it was contained. The house smoldered and was eventually subdued. I couldn't believe what I had just seen. What had seemed like such an effort by the firemen to save the house, looked at first glance as all for naught. Then from a different viewing angle I noticed that the fire had torn though the entire roof, but the living area of the house was for the most part, untouched. All of this had happened so quickly and yet so slowly that I had to look at my clock to find out the length of time it actually took.

15 minutes to burn, 45 minutes to put out and a lifetime to rebuild.