We were supposed to go to a friend’s house to watch the debate, but a fire broke out. This is the view from my backyard. This fire was closer than the previous fire.
I called and cancelled, but I don’t think our friends were happy. They said we could keep an eye out for the fire from their house. They have a rooftop deck where they said we could hang out.
I did my usual prep in case of evacuation. I have my “go” bag, money, my mom’s flute and my great grandmother’s cookbooks in the laundry room, right next to the garage. I locked kitty in a room with her carrier, so I wouldn’t have to search the house for her. I didn’t want to leave our house and our cat to go to our friends’ house. It turns out people one mile away from us were evacuated. The fire went from six acres to 600 acres in less than an hour. Now it’s at more than 3,000 and not contained.
I looked back on what I was doing one year ago. Much of the same. Watching and learning about a fire nearby.
How do you prepare for an emergency?
Would you be comfortable leaving your house with a fire close by?
How worrying it must be for you to have the fire so close to you! Stay safe my friend
Thank you! The fire was way too close. The worse has passed though.
Take care.
I appreciate your concern.
😍🥰🤗
I am sorry that your friends didn’t seem to understand why you wanted to stay close to home. Seems a bit strange- their reaction? I would have done exactly the same though and likely been glued to ongoing alerts anticipating the need to leave ASAP. I think people living in areas that are so prone to fire (just like those who live in areas that face lots of other climate related disasters) are looking at living with some level of PTSD as this gets worse year after year. Maybe your friends are the type that choose to ignore things like this for self-preservation…they simply cannot cope with the knowledge that things may be lost so they live as if nothing is wrong?
I didn’t understand their pressure either and wished they would be more understanding. I knew if we went over to their house, I wouldn’t be a bit relaxed or enjoy myself.
First, I’m sorry about the risk of fire in the first place. And I’m with Deb, it seems awfully strange. Say that there’s any type of risk to your house, whatever that may be, and you want to stay near just to monitor the situation, wouldn’t someone who cares about you care about your concern and well being more than about watching tv together?
I agree with you. The wind was in our favor, but wind direction is nothing to rely on. I wouldn’t have enjoyed myself anyway. They were just as close as us to the fire.
I would rank fire as a reason to bail out of attending a wedding, let alone a tv-watching date. I’m glad the wind was in your favor, I hope the fire department were able to control it. Fires are absolutely frightening (there’s a reason why “of hell” follows “fire”…). Stay safe!
They are getting containment of the fire. Finally! There’s so many fires that have popped up due to construction, AVs, and other manmade causes.
Yes, way too close for comfort! Hope it is contained and out soon!
They lifted the evacuation orders and it seems the fire is getting under control. I’m glad we stayed home!
I’m not very prepared for disaster. I remember once there was an earthquake offshore and we were on “surge” watch (tidal wave) when I lived in Hawaii. We had important plans and they were up on a hill, out of the danger zone, so we just went. I can’t remember if we packed important papers or anything, but we had our kids! Haha! It was strange not knowing if we’d have a home to go back to. Thankfully, the sea cooperated and the waves weren’t ginormous and everything worked out. I think it is different if you have pets and can’t take em with you wherever you’re going… I would not want to leave them in harms way.
You’re so fortunate the tidal waves didn’t happen. You had the most precious things with you. Your kids!
Oh my goodness. Stay safe! It sounds like you are well prepared…and I’m with you. Not going anywhere…I’d have eyes on my home, family – including pets. 💕
Yes. I felt pressured by my friends, but I’m glad we stayed safe at home on top of the situation.
🥰🥰🥰
😊
Wow, glad it went the other way. As we live with the same threat, I have a “shit-hit-the-fan” bag. All we have to do is grab RX, important papers (yes I have them all digitalized but some some people still have to have paper), fill the 2 5 gallon jugs, grab the dogs and go. My fear is I will have “E”nough gas.
I am with you on the gas. I try to never let the car go below half full. I have a bag with our newly done will and other documents, too, even though it’s digital also.
I wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving my home with a fire nearby; they are unpredictable. I also worry about air quality which I never use to do. 🙁 Because of where I live, I have several expensive emergency/survival kits and an earthquake box with food, water and supplies.
It sounds like you’re prepared. We had an earthquake kit when lived in California. But I’d forget to update it!
I think it is kind of like ‘hurricane parties’ in Florida. Natives and long timers become accustomed to hurricanes. 3 or above, we leave. That is interesting about keeping your grandmother’s recipes-there must be some original and hard to find ones. I would enjoy seeing them. Or are they cookbooks? Interesting. I would be interested to learn more about the ones you keep. We have a safe box with personal papers. The pugs would go, not sure which personal items we would take. Sometimes you also have to worry about break ins, so we do understand. Maybe your friends felt like ‘safety in numbers’ so you could be wary together to quell the anxiety, if that makes sense.
My great grandfather ran a newspaper and had a printing press. My great grandmother published cookbooks and sold them across the country as fundraisers for women’s church groups. My goal is someday to have them republished. Maybe your correct about our friends and safety in numbers.
Very interesting! I just met a local neighbor who wrote and published a cookbook. I am hoping to know more about her and her cookbook. Interesting.
They are little booklets with fun titles. Murphy’s Pets is her potato cookbook. She has one for eggs, soups, salads, meats and desserts.
Sounds like a good plan. I believe BookBub was the publisher for the cookbook ‘Read food for Real People.”
👍🏼
You’ve got hot weather, those fires are intense. Didn’t you see LA in NY?
Yes, I got to meet LA in person. It was a treat!
I bet it was! Great that you made it happen.
It was our final night in NYC. We spent most of the trip in the countryside of CT.
I love Connecticut. I went to boarding school there. It’s really beautiful.
That’s impressive. My brother lived in Stamford when my kids were young and we visited often. This trip we were with a client of my husband’s who lives in Palm Springs, Manhattan and Sherman, CT. I’m glad we got out of the city for CT.
Wow, that looks close! There would be no way that I would leave my home for a completely voluntary event with that going on. I’m glad that it turned out okay for you, but you never know, and it could have changed – for the worse – quickly.
Definitely, the wind could have changed and blown the fire closer to us. I would have been unnerved to leave the house.
I try to keep my car filled with gas just in case!
Wow, that’s nerve-wracking. I think if I had a pet in the house and a fire that close, I wouldn’t be okay leaving without the pet. Because what if the roads between the two houses got cut off by the fire or response to the fire?
Exactly! Those were my feelings too. The fire was one mile east from both our homes.
We live in a fairly congested area, and in times of emergencies roads get closed due to accidents, rerouting traffic, etc. so it would not be likely we’d venture out somewhere for an optional appointment if there was a looming threat of a fire, snowstorm, flood, etc. You could wind up in your car for a couple of hours just being ten miles from home.
I try to keep my car filled with gas just in case! If we have to evacuate, I don’t want to stop for gas!
They certainly don’t seem like very understanding folks. Glad the danger seems past for now. We’ve had close fires, but I’ve never had to evacuate. Dreading the day.
The neighborhood next to us had to evacuate. Fortunately, we did not, but I was prepared.
How do you prepare for an emergency? Haphazardly, depending on if it’s heat related or ice related. We get both.
Would you be comfortable leaving your house with a fire close by? Yes. We were once evacuated when there was a train derailment and clouds of chemical smoke were everywhere, couldn’t see a yard in front of you. Scary, but worth leaving our house.
The train derailment sounds scary! I would want to leave my home under those circumstances, too!
I’m so sorry, that sounds like a lot of stress. We’ve had the same issue in California over the years and it’s not fun or easy to breath. Stay safe my friend. Maybe this might be a good time to travel away from the fires. Hugs, C
We just got back from NYC and CT when this fire broke out.