As most of our friends and family know, we were evacuated for a wildfire on Sept 5, 2011. I assumed it was just a precaution and we would be able to return home that evening. I was wrong.
The fire grew fiercely and soon we were hearing rumors that the fire trucks were seen in our yard and our house was burning. The rumors were only partially true. The fire trucks were in our yard. The water pipe (it's not a hydrant-we're rural) is in our yard and they were connecting to that. Our yard did burn, as did the fences, and our children's trampoline. The trampoline that had survived hurricane Ike.
We were allowed to return home Thursday the 8th. By this time, pilot guy had returned from the Gulf and was with us. We were so concerned for our pets left behind, 2 cats and 2 guinea pigs. As pilot guy entered our house the cats came running and the piggies were squealing. They were safe, hungry but safe!
It felt so good to be home and sleeping in our own bed Thursday night. I woke up about 5:30 a.m. with a clear feeling that I needed to repack our clothes. I nudged pilot guy who kind of nodded his head and rolled over. So, in the quiet hours of Friday morning, I repacked our large duffel bag with clean clothes and put it by the front door along with our 2 other bags. Little did I know, at that time, how important it is to listen to those little insticts God gives. The day progressed and the air started feeling less heavy. The sun was shining and we drove our neighborhood to see the devastation. Our park's play structure was literally melted. Trees blackened. Ash everywhere. It appeared as our end of the subdivision took the brute force of the fire. We felt such a sense of relief. At least the worst was behind us.
Pilot guy took our 15-yo and his friend into town to the skate park while he went to replenish our fresh groceries. Our oldest had returned to college classes in the nearby town. I had just sat down to the computer to check the status updates on Facebook. The fire marshal was doing an awesome job of using it to keep us all informed. A friend posted she had just heard on the scanner that firefighters were in trouble near our area and had called for help. Moments later, the sheriff was in my drive telling me to evacuate, yet again.
I grabbed our packed duffel bag of clothes, the bag with my husband's handguns, my jewelry, our important papers and ran to the suburban. I was alone with my 9 and 10 yo boys. I was trying not to freak them out but get them to get their dad's laptop and shoes and get in the car. By this time, the dog knew the drill and she raced to the suburban. I ran back in to put out cat food and food/water for the guinea pigs when my 9-yo yelled at me that the sheriff was back (not even 5 minutes) and wanted to talk to me. I ran outdoors and he was yelling for me to get out NOW. I locked the doors and prayed our pets would be ok. I did not get them fed.
Leaving our subdivision a second time is one of those incredible moments that will be burned in my memory forever. Literally as we drove out police cars were everywhere with lights flashing. One with a bullhorn looked me right in the eye and yelled from his driver's seat, do not stop, go, go, go. The DC10 plane was above us headed to the right and he was dumping orange-red retardant. It seemed as though that mega plane was skimming the treetops. To our left was the sky-crane helicopter coming in to dump water. I never saw the flames. Our neighbor did. My boys both commented it felt like a war zone. Their dad is a helicopter pilot so seeing different types of aircraft is something they are accustomed to but watching the military blackhawks dump water, the 412 helicopter with the bambi bucket dumping, the sky crane with the long hose hanging, and that DC10 was just scary surreal and breathtaking at the same time.
I headed for town park and met our neighbors, pilot guy, and our teenage boys, who were a bit freaked out by this time. They could see the mushroom cloud of smoke and sirens in the distance toward home. We stayed in the park for a few hours, had Sonic for dinner, and prayed for the best. We were still contemplating what to do and where to go. Our 18-yo still wasn't with us.
Yet, again, we were evacuated,this time from the park with many other area families. We decided it was time to just get out of our little town since the area that was evacuated had grown so vast. We connected with our oldest. Since we now had 3 cars, we checked with the constables that it was ok to leave our suburban in their parking lot and were given the go-ahead. We then headed to the big city to stay with our neighbors' parents. Fortunately, they have a loft above their garage. Our family of 6 was wall-to-wall air mattresses. Even though we were packed like sardines I loved it. My family was safe and cozy. We were together.
Saturday, we decided if we were in the city and couldn't return home, we might as well make the best of it and took a day trip to the zoo. Humor kept us all sane. We named our friend's parent's house, Key Bed and Breakfast. We figured we could advertise it as a one with loft space in the heart of the city;s historic district. There was even complimentary WiFi thanks to their neighbor.
Sunday, we saw on the Fire Marshal's page on FB that we were allowed to go home, approximately 48 hours from the second evacuation. This time, things looked a bit different. Not only were the yards burned but more fields were burned. There were now dirt barriers/fire lines cut through the fields. You can see that the amazing fire crews worked incredibly hard and they still are. Trucks are still driving those dirt fields ensuring that no hot spots flare.
School started today in our town but I kept our 15-yo home. He's exhausted and I wasn't quite ready to let him out of my sight. Our 18-yo returned to college classes once again. We'll start homeschool with the younger 2 in the morning.
God's grace and mercies are unending. His protection was felt in ways that cannot be measured.
We are still under curfew, cannot return in/out of the subdivision without photo I.D. that matches an address within.
And yet, I know it will all be fine. I have a peace that only can come from Him.
Yesterday, as I drove into our subdivision, Steven Curtis Chapman's song, Beauty will Rise was playing. It brought me to tears.
Here is a link to the Chronicle with photos including the DC10 the boys and I experienced dropping retardant.
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