Frankly, I don't glue myself to the television. It's a nuisance, an irritant most of the time. Except when something fast-moving and interesting is going on and catches my attention. As it happens, I missed the start of the latest fire up in Lake County. It didn't reach my awareness until yesterday afternoon - and that's when the glue took hold.
This is the fourth major wildfire up there this summer, the third calling for mass evacuations. As bad as the others were, they were dress rehearsals for this one.
While the others were bad, in the scope of area burned, a relatively few people lost their homes and, as tragic as that is (I cannot begin to imagine how horrible that would be), the scope of this one, the speed of it, is astonishing.
I heard reports of news crews seeing dead livestock caught by the fire along the side of the road. The animals could not be saved because the fire was moving too fast for their owners to get to them, load them up and get them out. Many people literally fled in front of the fire. They had no time to grab anything because the flames were bearing down so quickly.
It started Saturday afternoon. Yesterday, it had grown to more than 50,000 acres. This morning it's at 61,000 acres and still growing.
Coworkers are displaced and several people our people know have lost their homes. Many people in the area have lost everything.
As a personal-to-me coworker tally:
One family is living with friends in Santa Rosa because their home was in line to burn. Thankfully, when the man-of-the-house went and checked yesterday, the house is standing. The fire came close, but missed.
Another coworker - one who took in family twice in the last fires - was in an area that was badly burned. In their case, the local elementary school and market burned, but their house is still standing even though they evacuated and went to stay with yet another co-worker. They had to leave so quickly they had to leave three of their outdoor cats behind. Fortunately, when a neighbor stopped by to check on things, he found the missing cats. They're fine, just hungry.
One person's backyard burned, but the house is fine.
The "primary" town up there in the burn area - Middletown - has been ravaged. It was a small town of about 1,300. The surrounding area has been decimated, too. 13,000 people evacuated. Four-hundred structures burned. If you want to see a vision of Hell, take a look at this less than two minute video from YouTube. The driver is heading toward Middletown - where he thinks he can take refuge:
Imagine this is your world - your neighborhood. This is reality in Lake County and it puts into perspective the pettiness of every day living. And I am not above it, until I'm reminded.
I hope you and your family are safe - that nothing like this ever happens to you or to anyone you know, or to anyone, anywhere, any time, ever.
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
No comments:
Post a Comment