Blackforest Fire

I don’t know where to even start this post.  Do I start with the woman that spent the night in the Wal Mart parking lot with six chickens in her car?  Or the young man that passed the sacrament today in a white shirt, tie and gym shorts because he had no other clothes?  Or do I start with how awesome Jimmy Johns is for giving the firefighters 400 sandwiches and then a couple days later giving out 100’s more to evacuees waiting in traffic to return to their homes?  Maybe I should start at the part that makes me cry every time, about all of our many sweet friends that have lost their homes, land, and possessions?  I guess I better start the Tuesday before last.

The Bishop had all of the youth in our church do fire mitigation around our building.  Our church house is in the middle of the forest surrounded by pine.  The youth and leaders worked for two hours raking up needles, hauling out dead wood, and just cleaning up the area.  He was inspired because the next Tuesday when the fire hit, our church building was left unharmed.  Hundreds of homes all around the building were burned to the ground.  That little X is where the church is and every red circle is a house lost.  502 homes were lost.  :(

So clean up was on Tuesday, and the next Tuesday the fire broke out in the forest.  I started getting texts and calls from people worried about us.  I kept assuring everyone that we were just fine.  The fire was over by the park.  I was a total idiot and look back wondering what on earth was I thinking!  The fire looked like this from my backyard as we were leaving … without my girls!  Yeah, I decided that Stephen and I would BOTH go pick up Nathan from soccer practice clear across town, so that we could see what was going on with the fire, AND LEAVE THE GIRLS in the fire’s path as they watched their movie.  I’m an idiot!

By this point everyone is calling.  We finally pick up Nathan.  My heart is pounding.  They close off the intersection of Woodman and Blackforest, which is the main road to get into our area.  No one can get in, and it’s two lanes of traffic evacuating out.  Trucks piled high, RV’s. boats, campers, worried looks.  I’m like FREAKING out that I can’t get in, to get my girls!  Stephen then rerouted us through little side roads and over to our neighborhood.  I was SO happy to get in, as others were so happy to have gotten out.

When we got home three different neighbors were all at our house trying to figure out what to do.  Our electricity had went out and thus our water was gone as well.  We saw the huge plumes of smoke way up overhead and worried about the wind changing direction and dropping embers on our roofs.  Our little Korean neighbor said, “I go when you go, so tell me when to go”.  I’m thinking don’t trust me,  I just left the girls here by themselves!

It’s scary when you don’t have power.  We couldn’t watch the news, we didn’t have wifi for computers, and our phones were going dead because of all the calling, texting and using the internet.  I always watch on TV during natural disasters and think, GET OUT, why are they just sitting there?!?  However, I believe that some people have no clue what is going on around them because power is usually lost in situations like this.  You can’t even see what to grab to take with you.

I found it interesting as the kids were grabbing special stuff to them how different they were.  Ash grabs her big puppet show theater, Kaylee is taking everything off of her walls, as Jacob is trying to find his new Patriarcle Blessing paper.

So many friends were SO good to us!  AND that is what I love in times like this, people stepping up serving and helping others.  Meals, shoulders to cry on, clothes (the North Stake building was FILLED with clothes for anyone that had been evacuated and needed them), helping with pets, even down to all that is given to firefighters and Care and Share.  People are giving and ready to serve! 

Today I sat in church with 82 families that are STILL evacuated from their homes, some of them having lost their homes.  General authorities were sent from Salt Lake.  They spoke of peace and blessings found in trials.  BUT it was a sister in the ward that touched me.  She talked about losing a child a few years ago.  She said, “when I finally stopped asking why me, and started living, that is when I started growing and progressing.  That is when I started seeing so many blessings in my life”.  The hymns spoke to me as well, especially “Come Follow Me”.  The spirit was strong and my eyes were overflowing.

There is so much love and service all around.  There is so much to be done.  We just need to remember to always be like this with each other.  It shouldn’t have take a fire!