Wild fires

Living in Southern California for 50+ years, left me no stranger to wild fires. I’ve known the ash in the air, the orange glow of the sun, the burning in your eyes and the feeling you’ve been breathing through an ashtray.  None of that prepared me, however, for a fire here in the country.  Initially it seemed so far away, and although we were concerned about the farms that were in danger, we were not stressed.  With the wind blowing and the fire burning, we quickly became stressed, we just pretended to be calm.

Why do things happen at night?  At 9:00pm we started ‘talking’ about what we would do ‘if’.  At 10:30pm we were out in the pens filling up water troughs for a friend who was evacuated as we welcomed their 2 horses, a pony and 2 goats.   We gathered the items that most needed to be saved if we indeed had to flee.  At 11:30 we decided to go to bed and I wondered, exactly which pajamas were the most appropriate for possible evacuation wear.  The sheriff woke us at 2:00am, telling us that we had about 45 minutes to leave.  I really pretended to be calm then.

The horses were the most agitated and not pretending to be calm at all.  We do not have a horse trailer, so we couldn’t get them out alone.  A friend came with theirs, yes at 2:30 in the morning, and helped with the loading of our two very stressed mares.  It was not an easy process as the younger one had only done it once and never with ash blowing in her face.  Pat got stepped on and has a black & blue foot, but fortunately that was the worst of the loading event.

The cats in the meantime actually were calm or like myself, just pretending, either way, they were easily gathered up and stowed in the teen’s car.  The friend then took the horses, the teens and the cats to their home for the rest of the night.  With the kids and the animals safe, it was easier to really be calm, not just pretend.

My thought process during the night was helpful and bizarre.  “Get the English teen’s passport”, “I wonder if I brushed my teeth”, “Get the cash”, “If all my clothes burn up, is this the one pair of jeans I really want to be wearing”, “Get my diamond earrings and Pat’s antique watch”, “This bathroom is filthy, well, don’t clean it, it might burn down”.

Our neighbor was staying in contact with us by phone, her husband as Fire Captain was out on the front line.  We were told that we could stay until we saw the fire crest the nearest ridge, if that happened, we would grab the dogs and go.  We watered down the house, made coffee and pretended some more to be calm.

In our country, a 123 year old home is a rare thing.  It cannot be replaced and it was this thought that made me the most sad.  I was grateful for all the chainsaw gardening we’d done, the cleaning up of debris around the house and especially for the new roof, which had replaced the wood-shake tinder trap that was on it just 3 months ago.  I cursed the Spruce trees so near to it, as I knew that if the fire came, it would be the Spruce that would light up in flames and endanger our home the most.

We have been lucky, the fire came too close, but did not crest the ridge.  60 homes have been lost and so many more saved because of the work of the fire fighters.  The fair ground is filled with rescued and evacuated animals, everything from rabbits to horses, brought in by their owners or neighbors just willing to help.  We’ve only lived here 4 months, so we really don’t that many people.  Yet the number of folks who have helped us out, checked up on us, from Farrier to Pastor has us amazed.  Our neighbors have been gems and we love living in a town where everyone is your neighbor.

Yet, until the fire is out completely, we will just continue to pretend to be calm.