Sometimes an old, analog, landline is really handy, if not essential, to have; I hope the worst is over for you and the missus, and kudos for checking up on the oldsters...
Re Catfish's question, I seemed to recall some SoCal companies offering special spray-on coatings designed to provide a degree of protection to homes during wildfires; I did a little bit of a lookup and found this article from 11/25/2007 about the products:
Fire retardants that protect the home --
http://www.latimes.com/business/real...v25-story.html
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