Snuggled up in my bed, I heard a noise. It was a whizzing noise that ended with a boom. I found this strange. I had turned the TV up loud to cover the sound of the fireworks. It was getting late, and I thought the worst of it was over. I was binge watching "The Flash" on Netflix, using it as a distraction to help me forget the loss. This was the first year in six that I didn't have my dog to keep calm. He was always terrified of fireworks.

Noises continued, and they sounded close. I crawled out of bed to look out my window. I saw what looked like flashes as I got closer. When I pulled back the curtain, I saw FIRE.

The bush in my backyard was burning.

My backyard was on fire.

I ran outside, in the dark. I heard voices. I saw figures. I heard the water. A man kept yelling, "more water, more water." I could see him hopping back and forth. He was a silhouette against the flames.

I tried to turn the water up. Later I realized there was a sprinkler at the end of the hose and this made it harder to douse the flames.

I ran to the second faucet in the backyard. The hose wasn't long enough to reach. I ran back inside and grabbed my cell phone. The only other one at home was my daughter. I knew she might be asleep, with headphones on. The fire was just outside her window. I pounded on her door, "get up, get dressed, get out, there's a fire," then I ran as I dialed 911. I tried again to make the hose or water reach as I am giving my location and details to the dispatcher. I thought I was calm; I hope I was clear, I know how hard their job can be. She told me they would have help here soon. I hung up.

Finally, I remembered the hose in the front. It was long enough to reach. I ran out front. I got the gate open, turned on the water and dragged the hose towards the flames. I heard the fire engines in the background. I saw my neighbor's grandson perched over the fence with a hose, spraying water. I could see the man in my backyard, still hopping around, chasing errant embers that threatened to spread. My eyes were adjusting to the dark. The fire was losing the battle. By the time the firemen got out of their truck, we had won.

A couple of firemen walked the scene. They checked twice and declared us safe. One fireman reassured me, it's out, but call again if anything else happens. They had been running around chasing fires all night. I thanked them. He looked at me, concerned for a minute, and asked, "are you okay?' I think I was in shock, but I gave him a weak smile and said I was fine. In my mind, they had more urgent things to take care of. My fire was over.

My nightmares were just beginning.

I spent the next half hour spraying down every inch of my yard that I could. Being in California, I can't waste water just to keep the lawn green. Having a large oak tree in my front yard, calling the front yard a lawn is being generous. I used to tell people, look for the huge oak and the dead lawn. Now I just say it's California golden. I sprayed it all. I sprayed the backyard. I left the sprinkler on the end of the hose running next to the burned bush while I did it.

When I talked to my neighbor, we made the joke, "we had a burning bush tonight," and it was. The vibrant, flourishing, green bush looked like a hundred sparklers that got angry and decided to flame instead of sparkle. The California gold underbrush happily joined in, did we need a bonfire to roast marshmallows? It was happy to oblige.

I was lucky that night. We were lucky that night. The first person to respond was in his backyard, behind my neighbor. He was cleaning up from their block party, heard the rocket, heard the explosion, then he saw the flames. He hopped over her fence, grabbed her hose and hollered out for her. Once he had her hose going, he came into my yard to save my house.

There was so much that could have happened that night. Instead of just mourning the loss of my dog, I could have been mourning the loss of my home, my cats, but most importantly, my child.

My neighbor found the burned rocket, just on the other side of the fence. It reads, "Made In China." We don't know if it is an illegal firework or just misused, but the results are the same. Someone, using poor judgment, could have destroyed everything that I love.

Be smart. Be safe. Have fun.