A few weeks ago, my dad called to tell me that my grandfather (on my mom's side) had passed away. He was my last biological grandparent. And to tell you the truth, we weren't really that close. Language and cultural issues aside, there were some family issues in the way of me ever forming any sort of relationship with him. But still, I knew it was important for me to attend his memorial and funeral service (down in southern California) and be there to help support my mom. Unfortunately, Jack wasn't able to come down with us since he would be starting a new teaching job in two days...so it was just the boys, me and my sister (who flew in the next day to drive down with me & the boys...thanks Sharon!). To sum it up, the trip—both the actual drive down and the time there—was miserable (and that's putting a positive spin on it, ha!) Somehow, though, we survived the five long days and everyone was happily anticipating returning home. Especially me! Well, to make a long story short, we weren't able to return home. The Humboldt fire—which ended up burning nearly 24,000 acres and destroying 74 homes—had evidentally done what no one expected it to do. Thanks to some crazy winds, it traveled over ten miles, crested over our local hills and came down the canyon into our valley. As a result, most of Butte Valley (where I live) was under mandatory evacuation.
Now having just endured a really long car ride (fleeing from my trip from hell) only to find out that I was driving into another hell of a completely different sort (the sort where my home was in serious danger of burning down)...you would expect I would have gone into an immediate nervous breakdown accompanied by crazy amounts of Tourette's-like cussing, right? Well, surprisingly enough, I was actually pretty cool about things. Allright, so I admit that there was some mild Tourette's-like cussing going on...but that was only because Jack had decided that it would be an okay idea for him to not pack up his car with valuables (such as my external hard drive containing all of my digital photos from the past five years along with irreplaceable home videos) and to not pack some emergency clothes and toiletries for himself and instead drive to work (an hour away) and go teach his class like it was just an ordinary day and there was no fire roaring through the valley about to reduce our place to ashes. Did I ever mention that Jack has a Ph.D.? Well, believe it or not, he does! :P
Anyhow, the reason I think I was okay with things was that I was returning from a trip and already had all the essential items we needed...clothes, toiletries, food stuff, some toys/books for the boys, laptotop & camera for me, etc. In other words, I didn't have to face the stress of actually being forced to evacuate and having to make snap decisions of what to pack...all while trying to appear cool, calm and collected for my two boys. Sure, I didn't have all things I would have had had I been there to actually evacuate and pack the car (read=external hard drive containing all of my digital photos from the past five years along with irreplaceable home videos), but I had what mattered. My laptop and camera! Oh, I'm kidding...I mean the boys, of course! And since Jack was able to meet up with us and stay at the hotel that night—where I actually got to cuss him out in person, ha!—I felt a whole lot better. :) He was able to redeem himself the next morning, though, by waking up super early and driving back home to check up on our place. He and his brother managed to find a small back road into our still-evacuated area and check up on his parents home and our home. Both which, they were pleased to find, were still standing.
In the end, the fire did eventually reach and burn through our road. But, fortunately for us and everyone else on our road, it only managed to burn three outbuildings (a shed, a barn and a trailer). Absolutely no homes were lost on our road. On the next road over, however, it was a completely different story. At least five homes had burned down. And down the road (on the other side of us), another home had burned down. We ended up being the lucky ones...but not without some neighborly help.
Thanks to our two immediate neighbors, Jack (who is a ripe young 82 years old) and Mark (who just so happens to be a volunteer firefighter), the only damage our home sustained was just some burnt trees and grass and a partially burnt address sign. They both stayed put—despite the mandatory evacuations...which, evidentally, you have a right not to obey—so that they could protect their homes. Actually, Mark was out fighting the fire a few roads down when his wife ordered him back as the fire got closer to their property. So along with a pump (that pumped water directly out of the creek) and 400 feet of hose, he frantically worked to put out fires on both his property and Jack's property. During all of this, Jack (my neighbor Jack, that is) saw that the fire (which they were fighting from the north) was also coming from the south and towards the back of our property. This was our most vulernerable point since the creek borders one side and the front of our home and the (lush green) orchard borders the other side. Our back side, though, bordered a bunch of bushes and shrubs and, unfortunately, this is where our large woodpile was located. It always bothered us (read=Jack) that the woodpile was there and he'd always talk about sneaking onto the other property and thinning it out a bit just in case. But it was too late now. Anyhow, Jack (the neighbor) saw that the fire was coming dangerously close to our propane tank and woodpile and alerted Mark who was able to get two fire trucks onto our property right away to fight the fire near the back of our home. Talk about some good neighbors, huh!
Now before I completely bore you with "The Fire Story"—oh who am I kidding, I probably already have!—let me share a few pictures with you that our neighbor Jack took...
This picture is taken looking up our road. Our neighbor Jack's home is to the right and another neighbor's property is on the left. The drive to our home is on the right...just after Jack's property.
Our neighbor's storage trailer burning down. This trailer is located just across the entrance to our driveway.
A close-up of the trailer burning. He also had a lot of old cars (especially VWs) that he liked to tinker on.
This is on our property. The fire in the back of our place had spread to our grove of Eucalyptus trees.
Here is our small carport/shed where we park our riding mower and trailer (and house a bunch of yard tools). The fire is immediately behind our property and getting closer to our propane tank. Jack mentioned that these pictures were taken *after* the immediate fire danger to our place was over. It still looks pretty bad to me! :P
Another shot of the fire just behind our property. And of our huge winter woodpile. Just behind that woodpile, it was filled with blackberry brushes and other shrubs. Now it is completely bare (and black). The firefighters concentrated mostly on the area just behind the woodpile. What you don't see is that next to the woodpile is our workshop/shed which is right next to our house. So if the woodpile caught and then the workshop, our house would have been next in line (imagine a domino effect here). Pretty crazy...
The firefighters mopping down at our neighbor Jack's home. He lost a bunch of really nice trees and parts of his front entrance (stone wall, landscaping, etc.) burned as well.
After the fire had been more-or-less put out, there were still small little fires and hot spots everywhere. Our electricity/telephone pole was one of the last things to burn (and it eventually had to be replaced). When Jack and his brother snuck onto our property the next day, they found lots of these hot spots behind our woodpile. So they worked for about four hours putting them out. And since our electricity had gone out the day before, our pump (which pumps all the water to our home and property) wasn't working...so all their work had to be done manually with buckets and creek water (thank goodness for the creek).
And that is basically "The Fire Story"...and the main reason why I haven't updated my blog in a while. Lots of cleaning up to do after the fire and catching up as well from having been away. All in all, not a wonderful way to start our summer vacation. But, really, things could have been a lot worse.
More pictures, and maybe a bit more storytelling, to come soon...
