Ring of Fire

Yesterday afternoon our neighbors knocked on our door and asked if we'd mind if they parked their trailer in our driveway. Apparently there was a fire right behind our house and we didn't even know it. They were getting their trailers, boat, and camper outta the fields they were parked in before it was too late.

The news is calling this the Machine Gun fire, as it was started from a spark from a machine gun during training by the army.

Looking out our back door all we could see was smoke. A lot of smoke. As time went on, we watched the fire come up over the hill and work it's way down the hillside toward the homes. We were under voluntary evacuation, while others were under mandatory evacuation.

We decided to get the necessities packed in case we had to jet out the door. We then slept with one eye open the entire night. About 3:30 in the morning, the fire made it's way so far down the hillside, that we couldn't see it any more. We knew it was getting closer. The second it hit a home was our cue to get out. Once the fire got to the bottom of the hillside, it would meet houses, then it would hit the road that separated it from our house. Between our house and the road is an open field. That had us concerned.

By daylight, the winds had stopped and the weather was cool. This was a great aid in getting the fire contaminated. The firefighters put up a wall of defense behind all of the houses, where they bull dosed and hosed things down to keep the houses from catching on fire. It worked. There were only a few houses that burned further west, before the fire moved more our way.

I took Gavin to school this morning, and I had a great view of the hillside. You can see where it burned and where it stopped. It literally stopped just feet from houses. The news said it was as close as 30 feet. It was a weird, helpless, concerned feeling throughout our neighborhood. Neighbors stood outside all night just watching the hillside burn. There were several aircraft dousing the flames with water. All we could do was watch, wait, and pray.

The fire burnt 10,000 acres. Winds ranged from 30-50 miles per hour. All of the schools in the area are closed today.

Unfortunately, I've lost my battery charger for my camera......The picture above is the only decent

picture that I got with my point and shoot. That is our house and the hill behind it is the one on fire.