The Waldo Canyon Fire

Seeing the fire from our backyard fence on Saturday

I remember we first saw the fire on Saturday, June 23rd as a cloud rising up on the other side of the mountain.  Yes, it looked menacing, but far enough away that it was nothing to worry about.  Just something exciting and out of the ordinary to look at.  That day, just before we were going to leave to the Wither's pool party, evacuation orders were given out for the other side of Centennial and Gabe (being Elder's Quorum President) had to stay behind to make phone calls.  We went to the pool party, Gabe joined us a little late, and I remember we all stood and stared at the smoke above the mountain for a while.  There were a few people there (Allred's and Stringham's) who had just been evacuated out of their homes.

On Tuesday morning (the 26th), I remember I wanted to go running but when I went outside the air smelled so smoky that I decided I shouldn't go.  That afternoon the kids had swimming lessons at 3:30, so I got all ready to go while the kids were at Madison and Noah's house playing.  I woke up Sammy, got everything in the car and had to go pick up the kids from their friend's house.  At the time I had no idea that the fire was getting so close.  The only thing that gave me a clue was that when I picked up the kids, their friends' dad said there was a pre-evacuation notice for our area and he told the kids to start packing.  Well, I knew that the other side of Centennial had had a mandatory evacuation for days now and nothing had happened over there and theirs was MANDATORY.  Since ours was just a PRE-evacuation I didn't think it sounded too serious, and I thought I could be gone just an hour and a half and it would be fine (we were all ready to go anyways), so we went to swimming lessons.    How WRONG I Was.  By the time we were driving home from swimming, the the air was thick with orange and grey smoke.  You could see the fire on our side of the mountain and heading straight towards our neighborhood.  I started panicking more and more as I got closer to home.  I was afraid if they had called out evacuation of our neighborhood, they would not even let me back into our house to get our stuff.  Gabe meanwhile, had been trying to call me for the last hour or so, trying to get a hold of me, but within the walls of the YMCA I didn't get good reception.  Fortunately, I was able to get back to our house in spite of all the traffic, and then panic mode really set in.  Now I know why they tell you to get packed ahead of time, because when panic mode sets in, it is REALLY hard to think straight.  We threw our clothes into bins, grabbed our folders with our important documents, got our scrapbooks, and our computers.  Ashlee packed about 3 bins full of her toys, because she insisted on bringing everything.  :)  We threw everything into the car, and I was trying my hardest not to break down and cry.  Gabe told me, "The kids cannot see you like that."  While we were doing this, Ben and Sammy were just staring out our back window facing the mountain.  Ben kept saying, "I can see the fire."  "It's really big."  "It's across the street."  That freaked me out more than anything.

We finally got everything packed and in the car.  Gabe said he would stay behind for a little while and drive separately.  By that time ashes were falling all around us and on the car, and to be outside you really needed a mask because the smoke was so bad.  The kids and I drove away from our home, but soon hit stop and go traffic.  Everyone was out on the road trying to get out at once.  It had come so fast for everyone.  The wind was blowing so hard, and I remember looking at the tree bent over in the wind in our backyard, and just praying and begging, "Make the wind stop."  Once we were in the car and stopped in traffic, I looked at the gas gauge, and was dismayed to see that that needle pointed to just barely over empty.  Darn.  Another thing to worry about.  I was so worried we would run out of gas while we were stopped in traffic and couldn't go anywhere.  I was so worried that while we were stopped, I turned off the engine to save gas, but then our car filled with smoke.  Finally, we made it to a gas station, and were able to get out of there, but looking back our neighborhood was engulfed in orange and black smoke.  I didn't think we would see our house again.    

We went to stay at Gabe's mom and dad's house.  Gabe came shortly after us.  Then what he told me just broke my heart.  He said that before he left, he started hearing the sound of homes blowing up.  That just made me break down.  I kept my eyes on the news, where they were showing pictures of homes burning.  It was terrible watching that, but I couldn't take my eyes off it.  The worst part was that they didn't tell you where those homes were.  They kept saying, "An unknown number of homes have burned," but they couldn't be more specific than that.

That night, Gabe and I took a drive to where we would have a view of the homes in our neighborhood against the mountain.  Many of the roads and the freeway were blocked off so you couldn't even get close to it, but we found an overlook spot just off of Austin Bluffs, where we pulled over, and watched the Mountain Shadows neighborhood, our neighborhood, in flames.  It was so heartbreaking to watch.  This was our home, and community, ablaze in the night.  We truly didn't know if we would have a home to come back to.  I fasted and prayed that night and into the next day that our home could be saved from the fire.

Our Ward Facebook page was a great help during this trial.  On it, many people said comforting words, and someone even posted a picture of the church and said it was still standing.  That was a great relief to me, especially since our home lies right behind it.

On Wednesday, the weather did improve a little.  The firefighters were able to keep the fire from expanding much.  And on Thursday and Friday, they were able to make great headway towards containing the fire.  On Friday night, we got a call from our next door neighbor, Camille Beard, who said that they were letting people back into our neighborhood!!  We were so excited about that.  We packed up and went back to our house on Saturday, June 30th.  I was so grateful to see that the fire had not crossed Centennial.  Our street was safe, and our house was fine.  It smelled a little smoky in the house, and some ashes in the cobwebs in the outside, but nothing to worry about.  Our garden was even still alive!  I have NEVER been so happy to be home in my life.

I think Heavenly Father heard my pleas to Him, and I think He did protect our house and the flames from crossing over the street (Centennial).  Looking at the burned areas, you can see how the flames came right down to the street, but did not cross over.  I am so grateful and feel like my prayers were answered.  I know that if an emergency like that ever happened again,. I know I would try harder to be more prepared than I was.  I feel like I did some foolish things, and I should have had bags packed and ready to go.  I should have filled up my car with gas, so I didn't have to worry about that.  It worked out, though, and we made it out safely, but it really made me think of our emergency preparedness.  How prepared are we, really, for when natural disasters come and hit our areas?  It is something to think about.      

Altogether, 346 homes burned.
2 people lost their lives.
36,000 people were evacuated from their homes.

We are forever indebted to all the firefighters who risked their lives to fight for our homes.  Thank you!!!