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?
The waterfall in the Japanese Friendship Garden is surrounded by hand-placed boulders. The largest boulder weighs 25 tons. The waterfall is 14 feet tall.
What a weekend!
Friends came from Palm Springs to visit the Japanese Friendship Garden of Phoenix. They asked if we’d like to go with them — and if they could spend the night. We said yes to both. I got the house ready, made dinner for them and the next morning we went for a walk and then the garden. We toured with a docent from Japan and it was breathtakingly beautiful and peaceful. (I’ll write more about the garden with photos on another day.)
We were enjoying lunch near the Japanese Garden when a neighbor called. I ignored it, but saw she left a voicemail. Then my husband’s phone rang. He walked outside to take the call.
Neighbors called to tell us a wildfire was in the preserve by our homes. They live around the corner and from their house, it looked like plumes of smoke were in our backyard, although they were a few miles away.
Photo of the Wildcat Fire from Tonto National Forest Service.
Take a good look at these photos. What a juxtaposition of events!
We said good-bye to our dear friends as they drove back to Palm Springs from Phoenix. I was a nervous wreck on our 45-minute drive home. Once we got on the 101 freeway we saw HUGE plumes of smoke. It did look like it was near our house. I frantically searched on my phone for news and discovered the Wildcat Fire was on the road to the lake — about five minutes from our home.
Once home, I got my “go bag” into the car, realized I had packed it in winter and I’d need cooler clothes. I thought about what I would really want to save if we had to evacuate and I put some documents and my mother’s flute in the car along with a gallon of water. I’m not quite sure why I packed the water, but oh well. It couldn’t hurt. Plus cat food and a bag of cat litter!
I saw my husband was packing his own go bag.
Here’s a list of essentials I found online for an emergency GO BAG.
I found an app that includes a map with our location and the fire, plus alerts called Watch Duty. I also signed up for evacuation notices from the fire department. We eventually went to bed, but I set my alarm for 3 a.m. That’s when the wind was forecast to change directions from blowing the fire away from us, to toward us. I was able to go back to bed after checking notifications and slept for a few more hours.
They are using a massive amount of air power to fight the fire. The fire started Saturday morning while we were touring the Japanese Garden. When we got home it was at 100 acres. When we went to sleep it spread to 5,000 acres. When I went to bed Sunday night, we were over 12,000 acres and zero contained.
Do you have a “go bag” in case of emergencies?
What would you pack in case of an emergency?
Photo from the Scottsdale Fire Department on the road to Bartlett Lake in the Tonto National Forest.
