Video: Ramona Author and Cal Fire Talk Cedar Fire 10th Anniversary

October marks the tenth anniversary of the Cedar Fire, the largest fire in California history, which burned around Ramona and across the county for nine days, left 15 people dead, and destroyed 2,200 homes.

Ramonan Sandra Millers Younger, author of Fire Outside My Window, and Cal Fire Deputy Chief Kelly Zombro were interviewed by KPBS last week to discuss the anniversary, her new book about how she and others survived the fire and the state of fire protection now. See video of the interview above or here.

Zombro, who was on duty at San Diego Country Estates, talks residential wildfire safety, what they learned from the Cedar Fire, and how prepared the county is for another firestorm.

Book description:

The Fire Outside My Window reveals the story of the Cedar Fire, the largest fire in California’s recorded history, which ravaged the San Diego area in late 2003, burning nearly 280,000 acres, destroying more than 2,200 homes and hundreds of other buildings, and killing 15 people.

Leaving her doomed home the night of the catastrophe, the author, Sandra Millers Younger, drove through flames and, along with her husband, was saved by a bobcat that showed her the road she couldn’t see through dense smoke. With this revealing narrative, she takes readers into the heart of an epic firefight, telling the stories of fire managers and air tanker pilots trying to combat a catastrophe bigger than they had ever imagined, and recounting both survivors’ and victims’ desperate efforts to escape flames moving faster than fire engines could drive.

A Cedar Fire Commemoration is being held Oct. 26, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at River Park Fire Station No. 2, 12216 Lakeside Ave. 

An author event and book signing for The Fire Outside My Window will be held at Unicorn Books Oct. 26 at 4 p.m.