A Fire in Our Neck of the Woods

Friday, September 9th was an interesting day. I was flying home from California, Bud was at work, Ryan was at Nanie's, and JD was at school. As I was boarding my flight from Sacramento to Las Vegas, I saw on Facebook that there was a fire on Hwy 211 near Potranco. My immediate thought was about JD - his school is on Potranco. It's a few miles from 211, but I know how quickly those fires can spread. There's been a fire burning near Austin in Bastrop for over a week now and it's burned up thousands of acres and more than 1,700 homes. One family had only 10 minutes from the time the sheriff showed up and told them to evacuate to the time that they lost their home.

So knowing that, I started getting nervous. I called Bud, but he didn't answer the first time. I sent him a text, but he almost never responds to texts. I just kept watching Facebook to get my updates from friends. Finally, as the flight attendants were telling us to turn off our phones, Bud answered. He said that he was already "on it." I had to trust everything was going to be ok. I said a quick prayer, turned off my phone and sat tight through the 1-hour flight to Las Vegas. As soon as we landed, I saw on Facebook that the fire was still burning, so I called Bud. He said that JD's after-school care program was being evacuated to Medina Valley HS. Bud couldn't get a hold of his mom - she wasn't answering either phone, but he was able to reach his dad, and he was on his way to pick up JD from school.

I learned later that Chester turned on his strobe lights and drove "very quickly" to get to JD's school. People thought he was responding to an emergency, so they were moving out of his way. He got to JD's school just in the knick of time. . . .the kids were getting on the bus. Apparently there's a rule that says once a child is on the bus, he/she isn't allowed off until their final destination. Luckily, JD hadn't gotten on the bus yet, so Chester grabbed him and off they went, away from the school and the threatening fire.

The fire burned all afternoon and into the evening. By the time my plane landed and I drove by 211 on Hwy 90 around 11:30pm, it seemed the fire had been extinguished for the most part. The air still smelled of smoke and ash, but I didn't see any billowing smoke or orange glow.

This has been such a hot and dry summer. We've had many many days over 100 degrees, and haven't had a good downpour since last Fall. It's been miserable, and the dry conditions are a perfect breeding ground for wildfires. Hopefully we won't have any other close calls like that.

Here is a picture that was on Facebook, taken by my friend Lance Bippert from his house off Hwy 90.

This is a picture from Saturday morning - the boys and I drove by the spot that was on fire.

Another picture of the area that burned.