Also in the crazy month of June, there was a wildfire on our mountain. The fire started on the 21st. I saw the small patch of smoke as it was just starting and was mildly concerned. By that night, we were a little more nervous as we could see the huge flames lighting up the mountain. Jason and I talked briefly about what we would do and what we would grab if we were evacuated. The next morning, Jason went to work, and I slept in as long as the girls let me. I got up, got breakfast for me and Allary, and started to get more and more nervous as I watched the smoke get darker and darker and more and more intense out my windows. My vantage point from the kitchen window didn't make it look all that bad. I went to a different room and could see farther up the mountain and began to panic. The flames were uncomfortably close. I got out some boxes and started packing up photo albums, thinking, "I'll just pack some things just in case." I watched out the windows as the fire trucks and police cars raced up and down our road and then noticed them all start to congregate on the corner. "Oh no," I thought. Just then, my doorbell rang and a firefighter told me there was a mandatory evacuation and I had 10, maybe 15 minutes to get out. Okay, let me just say, I did NOT handle this well. Panic mode set in and I was a wreck. So, note to self and anyone around me, I am NOT good in an emergency situation. I started running around like a wild woman grabbing random items that entered my head as I passed through each room. I changed out of my pajamas and told Allary to get dressed. I handed her a backpack and told her to grab what she wanted out of her room. She was awesome, by the way, grabbed clothes, underwear, pajamas, shoes, and a few random stuffed animals and toys and books that had meaning to her. I was seriously freaking out. My mind kept going back and forth between what I would NEED to get us through a day and a night, and what things I would want to save should our house burn down. On the one hand, I needed diapers, wipes, formula, bottles, blankets, clothes, toiletries, etc etc. On the other hand, I needed more time to get photo albums and keepsakes. It was awful. Allary was great. She got Taygen out of bed and buckled into her car seat for me. I am ashamed to say that she, at 6 years old, held it together better than I did. It is one thing to think about and talk about what you would grab given this scenario. I
t is another to be given 10 minutes to save what you can and to throw stuff into the back of your van with smoke and hot ash blowing in your face. A dark black cloud of smoke enveloped the neighborhood, completely blocking out the sun. It was like it was the middle of the night. There were sirens and bull-horns blaring up and down the street, and a firefighter yelling "we've got to get these people out NOW!" Also, let it be noted that my house is the last house at the top of the neighborhood. If the fire made it that far down, mine would be one of the first to go. Oh, and also, there is an explosives manufacturing plant a few miles up the mountain from us. (!) It was such a scary feeling to be driving away from my house with the flames and smoke bearing down on it and thinking, this may be the last time I see this house and everything in it. On the other hand, I've got my two precious girls safe and sound with me in this very car and we're all going to be okay no matter what. It was a very emotional experience, and one I hope to never have again.
A lady in the neighborhood collected photos from everyone and compiled them on a CD. (I was in no state to be taking pictures.)
I did actually take these first two photos. This was the day before we were evacuated.
Taken through the sliding glass door on the back of my house.
All of these shots with homes in the foreground, are looking up towards where my house is.
Our mountain from across the valley.
My house is the last house at the top of this road, a little more than 1/2 mile up from this picture.
Allary's school.
We ended up staying the weekend at my mom and dad's new house. They hadn't moved in yet, and so we had a nice empty house to ourselves.
This is a picture of Allary's little bed and area she made up for herself with all the things she saved from the house.
This is all the stuff I/we managed to grab in 10 minutes' time. I was hating myself for forgetting Allary's baby album. And how I forgot that but managed a giant Winnie the Pooh bear, I don't know. I did get lots of photo albums and scrapbooks, and most importantly, the external hard drive from the computer.
This was Taygen's little makeshift bed.
My little evacuees.
I've never been so happy to see my house as when we drove back up after the evacuation was lifted. (I know the picture is weird with the reflection from the car windshield.)
You can see the remnants of the fire and smoke thankfully moving away from homes. I can't believe how lucky we were. We sustained minimal smoke damage. There was ash and soot everywhere outside and in every windowsill and doorframe. Our basement window on the side facing the mountain had partly melted from pieces of hot ash landing on it. We feel so grateful. As you can see, our yard was not yet put in, and any one of those hot ashes could have landed on some weeds and lit up. We are so grateful.
Bless those firefighters who worked around the clock, took shifts sleeping in the streets in front of our homes, and put themselves in harm's way. I will never look at a firefighter the same way again. As our road is the main road they were using to get up and down the mountain, Allary and I made a sign with an old sheet and hung it out on our back deck.
