Fire!

If you haven't heard by now, our little corner of the world was seriously threatened by a fierce wildfire last night. It was CRAZY! We left for dinner at the parents around 4:40pm, and we could see the smoke coming from the other side of the mountain out the west side of our home. I told husband we'd be seeing flames by the time we got back, 'cuz it looked close. We got home around 7:20, and sure enough, that's when the flames crested the ridge of the mountain. They evacuated over 1200 homes. We are just a few blocks away from the evacuation zone, so we were on edge wondering if we would be evacuated as well. We put the kiddos to bed, and I told husband I was getting our personal belongings in some bins just in case. I gathered up all our photos and birth certificates and things of that nature, so we were ready if the call came in. Most of our neighbors were on standby evacuation for the night, but we never got that call. The wind was blowing the flames sometimes 100 yards in one gust. When we went outside, I got ash in my hair and eyes. The smoke was so thick! Husband got out the binoculars and we could see some of the homes that were burning. There were only 3 homes lost. There are several pictures where you can see the ground was charred all the way around the home, but our amazing firefighters were able to keep it from touching the house. It was jaw-dropping to see how fast it moved down the mountain because of the wind! We took this video around 10 last night, I think. You can see where the street lights and the emergency vehicles are below the fireline to the left, and to the right all the red spots are how far down the mountain it came. It was literally in the backyards of some homes. You can hear the wind, too. They are hoping to have the fire contained today. Big sister's school was cancelled due to air quality. Our whole house smells like a campfire! We are very grateful we didn't have to leave our home, and our hearts go out to the people who lost everything.