Fiction In A Flash Challenge Week #15 – Inferno
This is Fiction in a Flash Challenge Week #15. Each week Suzanne Burke will be featuring an image and inviting you to write a Flash Fiction or Non-Fiction piece inspired by that image in any format and genre of your choosing. Maximum word count: 750 words.
Here is the week #15 Image Prompt.
Inferno
“Shall we board up the windows, Jeffrey? The howling wind is banging on the house. Look, the windows shattered.”
“I can try, Marsha. I don’t think there’s anything we can do at this point. Nothing can hold the windows shut.”
“The debris got blown in and darted the walls, the chandelier was shocked and dropped. It’s like an earthquake.”
“I fear this is worse than the earthquake. Did you see the eerie bright orange line of flames several miles long on the news two nights ago?”
“The gusty wind was blowing this way and dropped the sparks everywhere. It scared me to death when our garage caught on fire and the flames licked into the kitchen.”
“The big fire extinguisher saved us because the firefighters were busy fighting an enormous battle.”
“My cousin called this morning saying he was exhausted but okay. The fire burned hard overnight on the slope four miles north of our city, but his fellow fire crew with the bulldozers and fire engines was able to calm the flames and keep them from coming downhill. He said the Sheriff’s deputies knocked on doors to warn residents to evacuate.”
“The drought and the humidity of 5% to 10% are not helping to contain the blaze. The news said the Thomas fire burned an acre per second.”
“Your school got hit hard.”
“Yes, the cafeteria and several wings were ablaze to the ground in just minutes. The community rushed over to help before the firetruck came. It only saved it from destroying the entire campus.”
“Winter break is coming up. I wonder what’s going to happen after the New Year.”
“It’s hard to say at this point.”
“What are we doing next?”
“I don’t know. I have the TV news and the online news on to monitor it minute by minute. Would you get our important documents, some warm clothes, water, and snack items for the road? I’ll make sure the car phone charger is in the car. We’ll have them ready for evacuation.”
“I’ll call my mom right now to tell her we’ll be heading to their house soon.”
“Look, the news just came on. The wind predicted to come this way changed the direction overnight. But there’s no guarantee of safety, so the city ordered mandatory evacuation. We must go now.”
“Would you check the freeway condition? I’m afraid thousands of people are fleeing.”
“Your parents are one hundred twenty miles away. I may have to get on and off the freeway to avoid the crowd.”
“People are anxious, we just have to be careful. My parents are ready for us.”
~ ~ ~
“Oh no, Marsha. All the homes at the foothill are in ashes. Our home is about the same as we left it.”
“It made me sad. The wildfires burned for 13 days and caused so many damages. I don’t know how people can recover from that.”
“Let’s drive around and see what we can find.”
“Did you see the Christmas decorations? Some people put garlands on the burned trees and Christmas lights on the brown shrubs. I even saw some stockings hung on a lonely fireplace. They tried to cheer up the neighborhood.”
“Marsha, I saw our school board member. I wonder what happens to the school.”
“Why don’t you ask him?”
“Hi, Mr. Jackson. Good to see you. Did the school board discuss the school opening after winter recess?”
“Oh yes, Jeffery. The board decided to bring in many bungalows to set up temporary classrooms and resume school as soon as possible. We hope to rebuild the school for next school year.”
“That’s wonderful. I’m ready to return to the classroom.”
~
FICTION IN A FLASH CHALLENGE WEEK #15 – INFERNO
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The Showers of Blessings 
People come together in emergencies – good hearts come out in the hardest times.
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A rather timely prompt this week. I read a book about the Malibu fires earlier this year. I can not even imagine what it would be like to be in a fire of that magnitude.
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From today’s photo prompt, I included the stats for the fires in the photo of the sun. It has burned 3 millions+ acres. We need rain!
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Wow, you certainly do! I will keep praying.
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The Oregon wildfire is worse and condensed. The fire in Washington is arson, I just learned. The west coast is bad. I pray for rain in Oregon and Washington. Rain in California this time of the year is a miracle.
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Wow, arson?? That is terrible. I also pray for rain.
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Hubby said the arsonist got caught. People with right mind wouldn’t do that.
Oregon will have rain shower on Thursday!!
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So glad they caught the arsonist. Let’s pray it is more than just a shower.
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There were four arsonists arrested. Two in Washington, one in Oregon, and one in California. Two additional ones in Oregon but they were small fires and were extinguished after reporting.
There are so many mentally ill people on the street!!
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That is awful, to think someone deliberately put so many people in danger, even worse that they don’t know or realize what they are doing.
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A very scary piece of writing, Miriam. I always find reality far more frightening than fantasy.
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Yes, it was scary at the time it happened, Robbie. It burned 300,000+ acres and destroyed thousands of homes and buildings. Luckily only one firefighter and one other person were perished.
The ending of the story was true.
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I thought this was based on truth.
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Yes, the bites and pieces were true. I just pasted them together.
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So terrifying Miriam, fires cause such fear and destruction. It seems to me that there is so much hardship of all kinds – covid, and all manner of other frightening things too. Hope you are staying safe and well. ❤ x
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I know, Marje. It seems like we all have a share of the disasters in nature, Some are far away and some are close to home. We’re staying safe. Hope you’re safe and well. ❤
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Yes we are Miriam. It’s such a weird reality right now. Take care.
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Our weather is weir, it was 105F yesterday and will be the same or higher this weekend. I hope it doesn’t bring bad news. Take care, Marje.
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Oh that’s such a high temperature. Hope everything will be okay Miriam.
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One place reached 112F today. One blogger lives in Canada and she said the smoke from the fires drifted there from California. We’re away from the fires and grateful, Marje!
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Thank goodness that is so Miriam. Take care. 🙂
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Thank you, Marje. 🙂
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I actually went straight in my mind to my friends in CA – both southern and the North Bay – who are struggling with smoke and air quality, and a few with the devastation of their towns. You describe the fear and devastation so well through the use of dialogue.
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Thank you for reading, Pam. The fires started in the Bay area not long ago. It seems like the Santa Ana wind hasn’t come yet, but who know. It may come as late as December or January.
The story was based on my friend’s grown children’s fleeing the fires and drove 120 miles to stay with the parents.
I pray history won’t repeat itself of burning 300,000+ acres. from December to January.
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I pray the same. I think we are all “finished” with earthquakes and floods and fires and all of these natural disasters coupled with the pandemic. A bit of normalcy sure would be nice. 🙏
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Yes, Pam. We have record breaking heat and temperature of 105F today, will be hotter over the weekend. The world is heading disasters. Just pray to take one day at a time.
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Your story portrays the aftermath of a devasting fire very well.
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Thank you very much, Liz. It was frightening and heartbreaking to watch the news day after day and didn’t know when it would end. Nothing we could do except praying for miracle.
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You’re welcome, Miriam. Watching the news of the latest wild fires in California has been heartrending.
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Yes, Liz. 105F is not helping either. This weekend is going to be record breaking hot.
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I hope you survived the scorching weekend, Miriam. The temperature hit 106F at my daughter’s place in San Diego.
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Yes, Liz, we have record breaking heat. Valley fire in San Diego has burned 10,258 acres and was only 1% contained as of 7am this morning.
The closest fire to us is 26 miles away and ash is falling on us from that fire.
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My heart goes out to you.
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We seems to have a break from the heat here. But I have to check the overall temperature. Thank you, Liz.
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You’re welcome, Miriam. Watching the news footage of the fires tonight was very unsettling. I can only imagine what you are going through.
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Yes, Liz. it’s burning close to two millions acres. The fire season is not over yet. The Santa Ana wind is coming soon.
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The fires make me so sad. I like that you finished your story with rebuilding.
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I was frighten and sad also, Chelsea. The ending was based on a true story. I was thrilled to see the enthusiasm of the school and a lot of help from the community.
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Wow. Doubly impressed then. Great story.
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Thank you, Chelsea. Hope things are going well with you. 😊
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This post moved me so much, Miriam. The fires that devastated so much of the east coast of Australia last summer still linger in everyone’s nightmares at a hotter than usual summer is again predicted this year. We are just entering Spring and already the temperatures are well above normal for this time of year. We were on Evacuation alert for three weeks last summer. We are expecting for that to be the case again this year. We pray that won’t happen. Our wonderful firefighters put their lives on the line for us time and again. They are the unsung heroes of a grateful nation. Thanks for joining in again. 😊
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I was paying attention to the fires on the east coast of Australia. One blogger posted some photos of his forest property with burned trees. In fact, the wife in this story drove with their two kids for 125 miles to his parents’ home while he stayed behind to held the parents of his students.
Our fire season started but it’s not as bad as the one in this story.
Thank you for the prompt, Soooz!
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Praying for those in harms way. Powerful piece, Miriam.
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Yeah, Jill. The fire season started. Two years ago the fire was the worse in the CA history and burned 300,000+ acres, but lost the lives of one firefighter and one other person.
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I feel so sorry for everyone involved in these horrible fires, but those poor firemen… I can’t even imagine facing an inferno like that; they are heroes, for sure!
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The fire that year killed one firefighter, Jacquie! The fires this year is worse. There are many perished already and this is only the first 45 days of fire season. There maybe another 45 more days to go. The neighboring fire caused ash falling on our house!
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I feel like there should be a way to create natural fire deterrents. Our technology sector needs to work on it!
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You’re right, Jacquie! They should create fund to do the research on it for the long run!
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It is all to familar, Miriam as we head into the actual fire season, and here power shutoffs. It does seem to be getting longer each year and I have summer and winter clothes packed. Great insight into the fears and hope of rebuilding.
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Yeah, Denise, I was told the lightening caused fire this year already. The Santa Ana wind is so dangerous. Thank you for your comment.
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They may have to rename it Phoenix School!
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I think so, Peter! They have a great community of helpers!
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I can’t imagine how frightening and devastating such a fire would be, Miriam. I know that people are living through it even now. A powerful topic, my friend. I love the prompt and you did a great job with it! Happy Writing!
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This is the time of the year when it happens, Diana. Got report from friends already. Thank you for reading.
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I know. We live in fire country too. So far so good, but you never know and need to be prepared to evacuate in a moments notice. The story hit close to home.
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Yes, Diana, just a few months before this fire in this story was the Columbia Gorge fire on September 2. My daughter had all the windows closed. I went in late September for Autumn’s birth, the sky was still covered with heavy smoke.
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That was a bad one. We had smoke at my house and we live quite a ways away.
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It was, I think the boy was pardoned. We had a similar case of a fired set by a boy also.
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Yeah, I think they decided not to prosecute because it wouldn’t really help anyone and probably ruin a stupid but otherwise good kid – something like that.
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Yes, that’s was the Orange County’s ruling because it was a teenager also.
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Too close to reality here in California, innit. Frightening.
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It just happened in Bay area, Jacqui! Hubby said temperature this weekend will reach 109F. I hope it will change.
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Down here, too. It was over a hundred today. I hope i don’t get one of the rolling brownouts.
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I got the notice from Edison about that also. Another notice today asked to set the air condition to 78F and conserve energy from 3 pm to 9 pm. I hope you get some breeze from the ocean.
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