For Mohammad Azimi, a few strips of melted metal are a reminder of his good fortune.

Azimi, owner of Locksley Lane Deli in North Auburn, recalls Aug. 30 — the day of the 49 Fire — as starting out to be a pretty typical hot summer Sunday.

He took advantage of the cool morning hours to do some work outside the house, which is located behind his business. When the early afternoon heat started to become uncomfortable, he went indoors to cool off and decided to turn on TV news to see what was happening with the gigantic Station Fire near Los Angeles.

A short time later, not more than 10 minutes he recalls, he smelled something burning outside an open window.

When he looked outside, “the sky had become gray and there was smoke everywhere,” Azimi said.

But what he faced when he walked out the door filled him with fear and awe.

“I saw a wall of fire,” he said. “It was moving sideways. I panicked. I started running to the house because the fire was coming at me.”

The blaze billowed toward him from across the road, mere yards from his property, he said. But the fire raced instead through the trees and dry grass of the vacant lot next door.

It all happened extremely fast, Azimi said.

Firefighters arrived quickly, dousing flames that had jumped to a wall of his house and onto a wood casing surrounding the hot water heater at the deli. Then they moved on to fight the fire on other fronts as it ripped through homes, cars and buildings in the neighborhood, he said.

Azimi found himself alone again to put out the embers that steadily dropped onto the property.

“I worked until about 8 p.m. putting out the embers with the garden hoses,” he said.

He also runs a U-Haul truck rental business at the site. Throughout the afternoon and evening, he moved the vehicles from one side of the property to the other, several times, to keep them out of harm’s way.

“I was crying and praying for help,” he said. “Jesus helped me put out the fire.”

Azimi chose not to evacuate after the fire passed through and is grateful that he remained safe.

If I hadn’t been here to put out the embers, my house and business probably would have been destroyed, he said

But Chelsea Fox, Cal Fire spokeswoman, cautioned that homeowners heed calls for evacuation.

“Leave early and stay out,” she said. “That’s the safest thing to do. For safety reasons, we don’t recommend staying to defend their property. Many have died trying to do that.”

The Cal Fire Web site, www.fire.ca.gov, provides an evacuation checklist, she said. Among the items are gathering important documents, prescription medications and rounding up animals.

“Take a cell phone and a change of clothing because you might not be allowed back for 24 hours or more,” Fox said.

Six weeks after the fire, Azimi feels lucky. His home is still standing and sustained only minimal damage. The deli is in good shape, too. A few feet away, up a small incline, the edge of the burned landscape begins, running the length of his property.

The images of that day remain vivid.

“Fire is alive,” he said. “The heat was unforgettable.”

He’s also taken time to survey the damage in the surrounding area. Several of his customers lost everything, he said. At one friend’s home, a couple of streets away, Azimi picked up pieces of melted aluminum.

“They were the tire rims of a 1998 Toyota 4runner and a 1994 Honda Accord,” he said.

He keeps several of the pieces in the eatery, to demonstrate to visitors the force of the fire.

“This is a reminder to appreciate what you have,” he said. ”God was looking after me that day. I know it.”

Gloria Young can be reached at gloriay@goldcountrymedia.com.