Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire!

   That face you get

when you are worried about, “just how close is that fire behind my house?” The fire season of 2015 is still very fresh in my mind and my reactive response now is, should I or shouldn’t I start packing things up?

I was just making a quick dinner for myself of a small baked potato and some broccoli, (the family is out), and I heard sirens in the distance. Now, the problem is, I don’t usually even give that a second thought, because sadly enough, it’s usually police or sheriff sirens. Living in Lake County has jaded me a bit I’m afraid. But when an air tanker flew over my house close enough to rattle my windows and freak my dogs out, I took notice!

Being the wife of a battalion chief has it’s perks. We have multiple sources of scanning devices in our house to monitor the airwaves and get reports on conditions. I immediately turned up the scanner and found my husband’s pager, turning it up also, as it scans different channels.

Walking outside, the smoke plume was pretty high but not black, just a light brown, indicating that it wasn’t a structure. It was also not moving much. I looked at the tree line and noted there wasn’t any wind to speak of. Now my nerves are starting to settle a bit. ………… but only a bit.

Acid reflux is sure to find me, as I ate my dinner standing at the kitchen window, watching the smoke and talking to my dad on the phone. He called me right when I was trying to listen to how many acres it was and what all resources they were sending. I’m afraid I was abrupt in telling him I’d have to call him back.

I called my daughter’s friend Amanda, who lives down the street from us out Morgan Valley Road, in Lower Lake. The fire seemed past her and she also has a scanner, because her boyfriend is a firefighter. I was hoping maybe she heard what I missed on the report of conditions. Luckily, she knew the road and it was out Lakeridge Road, some two miles past her and about 2 1/2 from me. That is not very far! We agreed to keep each other posted if we heard of any changes.

When I hung up, I decided to call my husband, even though I knew he was out on the road, driving back to me with our youngest and her boyfriend. He is allowed as an emergency personnel to use his cell phone, and after all, this was official fire business.

Charlie informed me that it was in fact, very close. He said that it wasn’t a very good place to be burning either, but if there wasn’t any wind they would probably pick it up pretty quick. He promised to call me in a few hours when they stopped to eat and he’d check in on me. Being the brave girl I am, I assured him it looked like they were getting a handle on it………even though I wasn’t sure.

Dinner eaten and I cannot even remember if it tasted good, I put my plate into the sink and went outside again to look at the smoke more closely. To my surprise, the smoke was much less and the air tanker was still flying, but farther away. This is when I took the picture of my worried face. HA!(pic from Google images)

More relief came when I walked into the house to hear them say, “fire contained at a half acre.” DO YOU KNOW HOW GOOD THAT MADE ME FEEL?!!

So now, I’ve called my father back to inform him all is right with the world, and I was also hearing them release people from the fire. That in itself is a great indicator of success! WHEW! What a relief!

I thought the fear was past me, as I didn’t really experience near the emotional trauma as so many folks did last season, from losing their home. But being on the alert for months and keeping our belongings packed, ready to evacuate, it took it’s toll. Worried about my husband going out to fight the fires, worried about all the friends we have in emergency services, and plain old worrying about safety in general, not sleeping………. it was rough! Tonight, it flooded back into me. I’m glad it was short lived.

I have so much gratitude for living in this small community, where I have people, like Amanda, who I can call with my worried questions. I’m grateful to be here knowing so many emergency personnel, who would do anything for the people who are living here. I am thankful I’m married to a great guy who has taught me ways of keeping myself, our family, and our property safe. Lastly, I am happy to know so many kind people who live near me that I know, in a heart beat, would help me if I ever needed it, because they know, I’d do the same for them.

Tonight, brought back some scary memories, but it’s all good. My dogs and I are relaxing with the air on, and in a few short hours, my husband will be returning home with the kids, (grown as they are). Life is good.

These feelings of bonding with community are what propels me forward in writing my book, Out Of The Ashes. The characters and the story are portraying the small-town-America, that we all desire. Our county may have it’s problems, but I can honestly say, it has far more blessings then my eyes were willing to see, before the fires happened. Now, I see what was there all along.

Good night my friends.