On his cellphone, Jones, 47, a plumber, explained a tricky job to one of his workers as choppers roared overhead. "The clean-out is going to be away from the building," he told him. "Sorry I got stuck up here."
Firefighters used the calm to crisscross the hillsides dousing hot spots. As many as 16 aircraft circled, dropping water and retardant. On State Street downtown, residents went about their shopping and eating and stood in the crosswalks to get good views of the battle.
Nerves were tuned to the wind. When's it coming? Forecasters predicted a repeat of the day before. But when?
Michael Glazer, 34, a chef, slipped on his flip-flops and rode his beach cruiser up to Calle Noguera to see what the atmosphere was up to. The state flag at Peabody Charter Elementary drooped languidly in the heat. And the smoke in the mountains hung in place, a white pall.
Glazer edged back and forth on his bike. He said he was surprised by the fury of the fire the day before. He was surprised at how scared he was.
"I'm sure it's going to be a repeat of yesterday," he said, keeping his eye on the ridge.
Brent Batchelor, 37, couldn't take the wait anymore. He had to see his house up Tunnel Road. The digital artist and writer parked his car and started huffing up the hill in the midday heat. He caught a ride halfway up. He said he felt a connection to his property and had an intuition that it survived.
But as he ascended, the landscape got blacker.
"Oh, no," he said, catching a glimpse of the corner of his property and a scorched eucalyptus. "It got my house."
He started to panic, but then he saw the thick, whitewashed adobe walls of the garage. He jumped out of the car into a courtyard. The fire had roared right up to the perimeter. But the meticulously kept Mission-era revival home had survived.
There was no mystery how. Its saviors, Ventura city firefighters, left a handwritten note on the front door, addressed to the "homeowner."
"On 5/6/09 at approximately 4:15 p.m., a firestorm moved through Mission Canyon. During the firefight, a fire engine accidentally scraped the stucco on one of your wooden gate pillars, causing some damage." The note left contact information and continued: "We apologize for any damage caused."
Batchelor walked over to the pillar, found a couple of small chips and laughed.
He could barely contain his emotion.
