Grandma, there's alot of smoke...part 2.

  We evacuated that evening to my son's home that was nearby. From their development we could see the smoke billowing up from The Forest. I drove the car to a nearby hill behind the local high school and joined scores of other people just watching the fire. Many soon realized that while they were there out of curiosity, I was there because my home was probably in the path of the firestorm. So many people, total strangers offered help---a place to stay---a ride anywhere I needed to go---anything that they could do to be helpful.One woman came up to me with tears in her eyes and said she was sure my home would be safe. At that point I wasn't so sure.

  A few days went by of not knowing and still being unable to get any closer to our home. The news was constant....videos of homes in flames, reports of people and animals that did not escape. The roads were blocked with fire trucks, emergency vehicles and bulldozers.

  One morning a few days after the first reports of the fire, my daughter got a call from a friend of hers. He was a reporter for the local newspaper and he had somehow been allowed to go behind the police barricades to report the story. He called to tell her that he was standing in our yard, looking at our still-standing house....and he wanted to know if he should feed our chickens!!!!Our home was still standing!!! From the pictures that he sent us from his cell phone, it looked as if the forest around us had been burned, the grass was scorched but that the house was untouched! Our adult chickens were still alive and the 30 baby chicks in the incubator had all made it through untouched.

  He reported that there was a very large rabbit in a cage in our garage---with the door to the cage wide open. In our rush to evacuate we had no place for the farm animals and had to leave them behind. The rabbit's cage door had been left open so he could have a greater chance escaping. He was back in his cage with not a whisker singed.

  With this good news, we were hopeful again of seeing our home. But the news that night turned bad, with the wind shifting and the fire coming in many different directions. With this, came the pre-evacuation orders for my son's home---the one we were staying with!!! So once again we were packing up and waiting for the word to leave. It was a difficult time for all. Many more homes and out buildings were lost as this fire grew in intensity and strength. The smoke was incredible and the sight from nearby hilltops was unbelievable.

  Interestingly enough, the road to my garden center was never completely closed and the water and power were not turned off. So every day I would go to check on the place and to water. The helicopters loaded down with 500 gallons of water would be constantly flying overhead. Little did I know that one of those helicopters had dumped a bucket of water on my home to save it just a few days before.

  About 5 days after the fire started, we were allowed back to our homes for 15 minutes to retrieve medicine or pets that were left behind in the chaos of evacuating. We had a police escort to and from our homes, and as the police woman sat in her car, we were allowed to run inside. My daughter and I grabbed the 30 baby chicks and the rabbit. We were told that the SPCA had been feeding the adult hens in the outside pen, and that we couldn't take them. With the animals safely in our truck, we could take a minute to look around. The ground around the house was charred. There was smoke rising from piles of dead branches. The flames had come 18" from the foundation.

  As we drove back on the route to exit the Black Forest, we were struck with the complete devastation we saw. Homes gone. Forests burned to a crisp. A complete and utter silence over the entire area. The loss in some areas was complete. In other areas a home was untouched. A playground was still standing. A wooden cow lawn ornament stood guard over the property of her mistress, who would come home to find little else.

  Nine days after the beginning of the fire, we were allowed to return home. At first we were told we could stay only 3 hours, but then the all clear was given. The fire still raged east and north of us, but we were allowed to return home. As I went inside the house, I discovered that a portion of the kitchen ceiling had caved in. The water that was dropped on the roof to save it from catching fire had found an air vent. With all those gallons of water rushing in, the little air vent had bent and let the intruding water into the roof, which caused the ceiling to get wet and cave in. Other than that, and a little smoke smell in the basement, there was no damage whatsoever. We could see the burn marks just inches from the house, and the woods all around us had been affected. But the house was fine. Perfectly fine!

Continued----Part 3 to come.

"Grandma---there is alot of smoke."

  We had a fire here in the Black Forest 2 months ago. The grass was brown, the ground was hot and dry and the trees were like kindling. We were having the hottest and driest June in recent history. The perfect recipe for a fire.

  The morning of the fire, I had been at work at the garden center. Everything there was so parched and I had been watering all morning. The wind had picked up and was blowing hot, dry air. I had decided to take some of my kids and grandkids fishing that afternoon at a nearby lake to escape the heat.

   While we were there I got a text from one of my employees that he could see smoke billowing up in the trees behind the shop. I then got a call from a family friend saying we needed to get home right away as the fire was spreading. I had 4 little kids with me and my son who is in a wheelchair. We quickly gathered up all of our fishing gear, lunches and  lawn chairs and loaded into the car.

  The lake where we were fishing is down in a hollow next to the mountains, and we could see no signs of a fire from that perspective. But as we drove up to the road to lead us home we were met with a startling sight. There was a mushroom cloud of smoke right over the Black Forest...right where our home should have been. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was a massive "atomic bomb" size cloud.

  With 5 kids in the car seeing all of this also, I knew my job was to keep them calm. They all were staring at this sight in front of us and none of them spoke for a minute or two. Then my littlest grandson said..."Grandma, there is alot of smoke!" Another started to cry and one tried calling his mom. A little friend of my grandson, who was along desperately tried to call his mom, then his dad to see if they were alright. We still had 15 miles to drive before we could get home, and all the while this huge cloud of smoke is straight in front of us. With soothing words, and calm answers I was able to hold it together until we pulled into the drive.

  Two of my grandsons and their friend ran to their home, and I got to our house just in time to see a wall of smoke pouring over the woods directly behind us. The fire was still quite a ways away, and we felt we had time to grab a few things.  My sweet 5 year old grandson wanted a snack....and my son in the wheelchair hopped out as quickly as he could to scoot downstairs to pack a few things as we knew we had to leave quickly.

  I propped my grandson at the counter with a box of goldfish crackers and some juice and went back to my room to grab a few clothes. I stood in the closet trying to calm my nerves and logically think what I should take with me.

  At about that time, another son, who was at the airport about ready to take off, called and offered to have 3 trucks and 10 of his employees come to help me "move my house". While they were on the way we got the mandatory evacuation call from 911. Another son showed up at about that time, and started taking pictures and home movies out to the car. By then the crew from my son's business was there as was my daughter. We started throwing things in baskets and the crew started moving furniture and pictures out to the waiting trucks.

  My grandson was still eating goldfish crackers and drinking his juice at the counter, but once the crew was here he moved out to the trampoline to watch all of the excitement. He even handed a few toys from the sandbox to one of the "moving men" to save for him!

  The men helping with the move were so kind and compassionate. One of them even came and hugged me and told me they would do anything they could to help. As we were preparing to leave, I stood in front of my 10,000 volume library and cried the first tears all day. My books! They were all going to go up in flames...such a loss. They were all my friends. I had spent so many hours with them. They had been with me for years and years and I felt like I was abandoning them. One of the guys offered to start hauling books out to the truck if that is what I wanted. But in the end , we closed the library door and walked away. That part was the hardest.

  Within 45 minutes most of my house was loaded into the waiting trucks, and we were pulling out of our drive. Our development road was clogged with bystanders watching the smoke and flames as the Black Forest burned. We had to take a back way out of the forest in order to get to my son's home in town.

  The site was scary. Hundreds of cars and trucks were pouring INTO the Black Forest to rescue children, pets or belongings. The sky was dark and the smoke was everywhere. It was very sobering.

Part 2 next time......