When Our World Turned Upside Down - Part 1
By the time this blog posts it will have been nearly a month since containment was declared on the Carr Fire. What a crazy ride those three weeks were. I have mulled over how to write this blog. So much information, so many photographs. How do I organize it into some semblance of order? I have no idea because my writing style is all over the place. Anywho, I'm going to attempt it!
July 23rd was the start of a one week vacation for me and a two week vacation for Mike. We were going to spend a few days up at Lassen Volcanic National Park in preparation for an art show I had at Lassen September 8th. I had run into town that morning for an appointment. Around 1:15 in the afternoon a fire was reported on HWY 299W and Trinity Mountain Road. I called Mike and let him know. He checked the skies and could see the column but felt certain that it wouls be caught. For those that don't know, Mike has been with Cal Fire for 26 years. He knows a little bit! We had crews in the area that were still mopping up the Highland Fire just five miles from the house. Mike went and checked again a while later and became very concerned. The header on the fire was impressive to say the least. We had gotten word that the fire was running up the creek towards town. Evacuations were in progress. It was not looking good. Mike called me and told me that he was packing up our important things, grabbing some of the neighbor's things, hooking the trailer up and was going to head north to get out of town. I finished my appointment and headed home. The header from Redding was huge. My heart sunk. As I passed the Whiskeytown Visitor's Center I became very anxious. I had hoped that Mike was on the road out of town.
Below is what I saw when I hit the visitor's center.
As you can see, there is no one on the highway. They had closed it.
I managed to get to Oak Bottom and meet up with the neighbors. I was hoping firefighters would catch the fire and allow locals in. That was not going to be the case. The fire was totally out of control and no idea when the highway was to open. About that time I get a text from Mike with a photo. His text said that he was staying. Right before he was to leave he made a walk through town to see if anyone needed any help. He ran across one of our volunteer firefighters on the engine. Mike said he couldn't leave him. He went home and put on his nomex and hopped on the engine. That is where Mike stayed for the next three weeks.
This is the photo Mike sent me. This is a few houses down from us on the other side of the street.
I had two choices. I could stay and wait it out or I could go to my daughter's in Redding. I didn't like the idea of being apart from Mike so I decided to wait it out.
The header was ominous looking from Oak Bottom.
While I sat at Oak Bottom I ran into some old friends. I was happy to see one of my old dozer operators from LMU.
I eventually was able to get back in to French Gulch. The ride in was very eerie. The hills on both sides of the road were still burning. The picture below was taken from in front of our house.
I have to say, I couldn't have been happier that we had bought a trailer this year! The power had been turned off to the town so to have someplace that we could sleep in and escape the heat was a blessing. At that point I was just feeling blessed to have been able to get back with Mike.
Each day brought new challenges. I have decided that a disaster, such as a fire, brings things to light like things that we take for granted everyday. Electricity. How is it that when the power goes out you still try to flip the switch when you go into the bathroom and still turn it off when you leave? Even after 11 days of no power I was still doing this! Water. So blessed by the fact that the County brought in a generator to run the filtration system. So blessed by the fact that the County worker who takes care of the filtration system actually lives in French Gulch and didn't evacuate! Thank you Gary! I was extremely impressed by how the hotel provided meals for all those that had decided to stay, a place to charge their phones and get out of the heat. I am very thankful to my neighbors. Everyone banded together.
Of course the daily routine changed but everyone adjusted to the "new normal". One of the things that happened on a daily basis that was out of our control was the fire and how she would wake up in the afternoon. Every afternoon she would make a run one direction or another. Every day she would get beaten down by our exhausted firefighters.
Here is shot of her waking up on the wrong side of the bed.
TO BE CONTINUED......Join us next week to hear more!
To see our gallery of Carr Fire photographs click here