"I rushed home praying all the way," he says, "but my prayers were already in vain".

Nearly as quickly as the Lakers sprinted to the top of their powers Monday in Charlotte, they plummeted to their depths, a 23-point first-quarter lead dwindling all the way down to two in the fourth.

“No longer did you have to look all the way east to see the fire, it was creeping up closer,” Ballantyne said.

As the mist continued to surround the car all the way down the 110, I thought, this is no ordinary fog.

The Line fire burned all the way up to an elevation of 8,000 feet above sea level, Tardy said.