“As I sit in my apartment of 35 years in NYC, I read the horrific reports of fires consuming brush and forest in my homeland, and recall a gentler time. It was Oct. 30, 1967, and my 15th birthday, when a fire that broke out near Ramona airport raced toward Mt. Woodson, and then into Poway, consuming homes in the highlands and among the lush avocado groves of Green Valley where we lived. My mom worked at the high school then, and left with my older sister to rescue our visiting grandmother, who was home baking my birthday cake. Mom climbed onto the roof to hose it down and had to be rescued by a neighbor who luckily spotted her while evacuating the area. Meanwhile, I sat with my classmates in French class, watching the flames encroach across the road and listening to our radio station of choice, KCBQ, which was giving nonstop coverage of the fire, and announced — erroneously — that the 5-year-old high school had been evacuated! My brother made it back from L.A. where he was in his freshman year at USC to aid the fledgling Poway Fire Department, where he had volunteered along with other members of his Boy Scout Explorer troop during high school. The day ended when our family, reunited, but without electricity, drove into San Diego for my birthday dinner. And then on Dec. 13, the unthinkable happened — Poway, and much of coastal San Diego County, was visited by snow — the first and only time most of us had seen snowfall. Classes were canceled, and the entire school adjourned to the football field to build snowmen and engage in snowball fights. The Poway High School yearbook called it the ‘Year of Fire and Ice.’ ”
Source: latimes.com – Los Angeles Times