Fire: Awesome & Frightening

Before I blog our July let me tell you how our August began. There are two kinds of fire: the first obviously is the kind that keeps you warm on a cold winters day. Or the kind that you roast marshmallows or hot dogs in while you are camping. The giver of heat and light, in a way life. The second is the opposite of the first. It is the taker of life. The kind that only has death and destruction on its mind and will stop for nobody, if it has its way. The kind that is mean and nasty. Now keep in mind that the first can quickly become the second if you are not careful. Last night we were very close to meeting the second. Accidentally a fire was started on the mountains behind our house. It started around three yesterday afternoon and is still going in some areas. As is human nature, we watched. We had ring-side seats from our backyard and for awhile we were just voyeurs, but then it became personal. The water helicopters and the fire-retardant dropping plane kept it in line for a little while, but it soon got dark and the wind kept changing direction. As soon as they were gone, all hell broke loose (excuse the language). The back fire the fighters had started, was now part of the problem instead of the solution. Police and other rescue people were evacuating our neighborhood. Of course that is when the panic sets in. What do you grab when you only have ten minutes to get out? How do you decide what is more important than anything else? As the neighborhood south of us quickly became a ghost town, we waited. By this point it was about 11:00 at night and we were exhausted and scared. Then the neighborhood to the east of us was gone too. We waited some more. The wind had shifted too again and it was heading North toward "P" mountain. At around one o'clock a.m., we finally got word that we were safe, and were not going to have to leave. YEAH!! Relief was never more welcome. We were one out of 20ish houses that got to stay home. Let me put it this way, our whole ward was gone except for 6 families. So next time you are mesmerized by fire, remember how evil and personal it can get if you are not nice to it.

Just after it started

Dropping fire retardant

Getting bigger

The wind is starting to shift

A view from Main Street

From my back porch/not zoomed

Panic is setting in...

Saturday, huge water helicopter refilling in reservoir by our house

We estimate this puppy could hold 22 passengers or so, not bad for a chopper!!

This is video of the huge chopper refilling its tank-very cool!!