Thanks for missing us Harv. I posted an up-date in the Country Living Discussions about our ordeal. We were evacuated late Saturday evening. We watched the fire come over the mountain about three miles away. They had just asked for voluntary evacuations and within 15 minutes, it was less than a block from our home and the mandatory evacuation was "right now!". We put some of our important papers in the car, our pets and as we drove down the only street from our home, the fire paced us on each side, about a quarter of a mile away. The cars moved quickly in a steady stream nearly bumper to bumper. Hard to believe that in California, the people stayed calm and orderly. We were not allowed home until late Monday evening. Our town, Ramona has three roads out and they were all closed by fire or for emergency vehicles. The firefighters, sherriff personell, hiway patrol, border patrol did an excellent job, but were hampered severely by the "Office Jockies" in Sacramento. Forrest service and CDF officials would not allow the air tankers to fly as the fire was spotted 10 minutes after their "no fly time" and one of the tankers was on it way with retardent but required to turn back. Ramona is the base for Southern California tankers. They said it was of no apparent danger to homes so they would wait till Sunday Morning. I guess they forgot to tell the fire about their plans. There were three water dumping helicopters within 10 minutes of the fire, but they were never alowed to fly because the Navy pilots were not trained to put out wild fires for the forest service.
Luckily, I have met some of the Fire Chiefs as they often stage immediately behind our home. On Sunday afternoon, an ember had apparently started the ceder fence around our back yard on fire. A new (two day old) propane tank next the the fence blew the top core out and sprayed one hundred gallon of Propane in the back yard. The two Fire Chiefs were behind my home in the stageing area and broke regulations (they were only to prevent fire, not put it out) and called a unit in and put it out before the house caught fire.
There are a few Photos for those who would like to see them on our Yahoo Photo Album
Yahoo Photos
Thanks again for thinking of us Harv.
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