Rick Morris grabbed his flak jacket and combat helmet, then headed for the nearest bunker Sunday when rockets were fired into Baghdad’s Green Zone.

“I could see the flashes and hear the explosions,” Morris, formerly of Lawrence, told the Journal-World a few hours later in a telephone interview.

Morris, the American fire chief for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, estimated he was about a quarter of a mile away at one of the fire personnel’s “mancamps” when the attack took place. He had been talking to someone who was cooking chicken over a barbecue grill.

Officials said rockets were fired from a sport utility vehicle parked just outside the zone near the Al-Rasheed hotel. The explosions caused some trees and brush to burn, but it “wasn’t a big deal,” Morris said, and his firefighters were not called out.

“Unless we get toned (called) out specifically for something, we stay put,” Morris said. “We’re not going to risk ourselves for a bunch of trees. We’re here for the buildings.”

Morris said he would not be surprised if similar attacks took place today because of the scheduled signing of Iraq’s interim constitution. The building where the signing is to take place is near the hotel.

“I’ve got a gut feeling they’re going to try again,” Morris said. “They are wasting their time.”

The Green Zone is about a 4-mile square area of buildings that includes the U.S. Embassy and other U.S., international and Iraqi provisional government offices. It is noted for its trees and wide boulevards, but it also is surrounded by razor wire, berms and armed checkpoints. It still periodically is hit by rocket and mortar fire.

“They have to be quick, or we’ll be on them,” Morris said of U.S. forces guarding against attacks. “What they usually do is launch as much as they can at us and then haul ass.”