The fire started back up and many homes were lost. No fire trucks came, just police. The neighbors put up a heroic defense and most of the neighborhood was saved. And that was one of the better-off areas.
Most of the area that burned was on well water. When the power went, so did the water. Rakes and shovels were the main tool. A bucket brigade using someone's swimming pool saved one house.
Figure that of all the lots on a street, perhaps 1 out of 5 or 6 was a vacant lot with lots of vegetation. Lots of saw palmetto, palm trees with the criss-cross "lattice" of old branches going up the trunk, and then taller pine. The ground is covered in pine needles and foot high dry grass. Lots of pine cones mixed in. The waxy vegetation seemed to make it hotter and more persistent. The pine cones and branches that fell kept things burning or rekindled what was first flashed over.
Once the fire reached a palm, it flashed up the trunk burning in the lattice work of dead branches. They'd eventually fall off - still burning - leaving a smooth blackened trunk behind and lots of little firestarters, making sure the fire kept going or worse, spread. When flames reached up to the top of a pine, watch out! It rained flaming debris and made the fire jump to the next lot. The area is dry as a bone.
Much like a tornado can demolish one house and leave those around it untouched, so was this fire. When a house did burn, it burnt down to the foundation. The tallest thing left standing is the refrigerator. You can see the stove, washer and drier, and the a/c blower. The rubble smoked for days. Finally burned out today.
