Scene on Cromwell Avenue

Jonathan Johnson, a realtor who lives in a $3-million-plus home on Cromwell Avenue and who has sold property in the area for 25 years, said after authorities called the evacuation in his neighborhood, "All I could do was grab my dog, my passport and wallet and cell phone with the extra charger. What am I going to do about my koi fish?" ...

"You see it happen all over the city," he said, referring to the fire emergency. " You never think it's going to happen in your backyard."

Jon Marc Edwards, a fine artist painter who lives on Cromwell Avenue, said: "Your natural instinct is to stay by your house and protect it." Still, by 9:15 p.m., his family already left, his pets were evacuated, and he was planning to flee as well.

-Ted Rohrlich