House saved, door lost

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Rancho Bernardo:

Joe Fiore, 56, an emergency room doctor, was picking up debris around his Aquamiel Road house. His house had survived.

He had ignored orders from police and firefighters to evacuate. His wife would have been there too, but a flying ember hit her in the eye and she went to seek medical help.

‘I was so lucky. I had a million embers flying at me. It was very, very, very scary.’’

Seven houses on his cul-de-sac were completely destroyed. Here was a collapsed wall, there a charred window frame, a flattened pile of shingles, some twisted metal, all covered in ash.

Up the hill, Corazon Place was a scene of total devastation. All of the cul-de-sac’s 11 homes were destroyed, and a small dead bird was lying up against the curb. The hulks of two Mercedes rested on their rims. Residents were down the street at the police blockade, hoping to get back in soon to see if their houses had survived. The Bonnett family had somehow arranged for a police escort and found their house still standing. Daughter Jessica, 17, was emotional, her hands shaking.

‘My fish is alive!’’ she said, crying and laughing at the same time.

Don and Susan Buckley, both 49, sneaked around a police barricade in Highlands Ranch to check their Mediterranean style house on the edge of steep ravine.

They walked the last couple hundred yards in silence, holding hands. As they rounded a bend, Susan let out a deep sigh: ‘It’s there! Oh my God we are so lucky! We are so lucky.’’

They embraced, kissed briefly, then walked through the front door, which had been broken in by firefighters. Fire had burned to within 10 yards of the house, destroying a vegetable garden and solar collector, and some palm trees they had planted. Their pool had a thick black layer of soot and grime. Up the hill, they gazed out onto what had been four mansions. Nothing remained.

Susan: ‘Oh my God, look-the whole hillside is gone. It couldn’t have come any closer.’

On the kitchen counter were empty Gatorade bottles, energy bar wrappers and a note from San Diego Fire Engine 12, Lincoln Park:

‘House saved,’’ it said. ‘Sorry about the door!’’

-- Joel Rubin