Sorry that this post is a little late. So here it is. September 5 - 11 marks the one year anniversary of the Tri-county wildfires. What started out as a small puff of smoke on the horizon would soon be the cause of a week long evacuation for our family and many others in this area. I remember the anxious and worried looks on Mom and Dad's faces when the fireman told us that it was highly likely that we could be evacuated. For the next several hours some of us were watching the news channel to see what was going on while others were completing chores while still others were trying to get some stuff together just in case we really did have to evacuate. There was a suppressed feeling of anxiety. I thought that every thing would calm down in a matter of hours. The firefighters would get it under control and it would just be a rerun of the Dire mills fire that had happened in June. A big scare, worrying, discussing what we would take with us and where we would put the goats. But I was pretty sure that nothing would really happen to greatly disrupt the regular flow of daily doings at the farm. I sure was wrong in this thought. In a couple of hours it was apparent that this fire WOULD disrupt the regular flow of things here at the dairy. Mom and Dad started giving out directions and Dad,Grace, and Timothy started to get goats in the livestock trailer and in the back of the blue van. Getting the goats in the vehicles was a hard task. Not only did we have to get them in there but Mom had to decide which goats were got out first and which we would have to get later, if we could. Some people were shouting "Get my goat ____" while others were yelling "Get the show girls out first" and yet others were saying "Get Sonnet and Liendoe out first". Sonnet and Liendoe were not feeling well so they left the property first. After that it was a race against the clock to get as many goats in the trailer and off the property and back again before the firefighters came and told us to leave NOW. In the end we had to leave almost all of our bucks and "dry" does. We let them into the largest pen we had so that they would have more room to roam. In between the trips to and from Blue Heron Farm ( where our friends the Segars lived and had so graciously allowed us to bring our goats) we were trying to pack those things that were important to us and that could fit in the cargo trailer and white van. The pasteurizer and other things that were associated with making cheese and things like that were first to be packed. Then it was every thing that you could cram in there. Saddles, sewing machine, hope chests, family pictures, the quilt that our great-grandmother made, family treasures, you name it we packed it all in there as best we could. After that we used every possible space in the van that wasn't occupied by a child,cat,rabbit or dog. After that we spent our time doing every thing that we could think of to make those animals that we couldn't take with us as comfortable as possible. We also spent this time to make our house as "fire proof" as possible. Which wasn't much. We put the garden sprinklers on the roof at full speed and hoped that that would help. We knew that it was time to leave when the police and fire fighters started to drive up and down our street making a lot of noise and making sure that there weren't any more people in the area. We drove approximately a mile away and parked in the drive way of a church while Mom and Dad had a discussion as to what should be done. Dad had been able to get back to the house after we had left and was in favor of staying there to see how things were going on. Mom didn't think that that was a good idea. In the end, after going to Sonic and talking for a long time Dad decided to see if he could get back to the house with Grace and Sara, while Mom and every one else went some where else (we didn't know where at that point) and get some sleep. We ended up staying at a Red Cross shelter that had been set up in a local church. The next morning Dad called and said that since it didn't look like there was that much smoke that we should come home. So after eating breakfast we piled in the van and headed home. As we were driving out of the parking lot I thought to myself "Well that was scary, and in a odd kind of way, exciting." It was some thing that didn't happen often and you didn't want it to happen often but when it did it sure did set your heart racing. We hadn't been driving for more then ten minutes when we had to stop. There was a police car parked in the road and a line of cars piling up behind it. "Uh-oh. This doesn't look good". Slowly we got to the front of the line. "I'm sorry ma'am, but you can't go any further. This area is under mandatory evacuation" the policelady told Mom. "But my home's back there!" Mom said.
"I'm sorry ma'am but I can't let you go back there"
"What about Bunting rd? Is that area also evacuated?"
"I'm not sure ma'am"
So we turned around and Mom began the search for a back road that wasn't blocked off. We searched without success. Mom finally and reluctantly admitted defeat in the search and we headed to Blue Heron Farm to milk the goats. The next week was a week that I and every one in our family and in our area will never forget. Every day was marked by some event that made it different from the day before. Every day there was smoke in the general area of our house. We tried not to think too much about it. We were able to get an idea from the fire fighters as to where the fire was. At one point my sister Katie and some of the other girls went to the JP's office to get news. Katie:Where was the fire now? Them: Well where do y'all live? Katie: On such and such road. Them: Oh it's pretty bad there right now. Which house do y'all live in? Katie described it. Them: Oh that house. Yeah it's all right.
I can only imagine the look on Katie's face. We found out that one of the fire fighters lives on our road and had been keeping a eye on the animals that we had had to leave behind. He had told the county animal control about our animals and they had been watering them and feeding them. We were so relieved and grateful. On Saturday most of the family went to market. As Mom says "It was a little bit of normality in an abnormal week." The next day we went out to eat with a family friend and his wife. As we were sitting at Starbucks with them, sipping our "dessert", Mom came at a controlled run from the other side of the room. "We're going home! We can go home! The evacuation is lifted for our area! We can go home!" Boy were we excited! Over the next couple of days we worked on getting all our things back to the farm. But it was a while before the smell of smoke left the air. And it was a while before we could settle down and stop being anxious that the fire might flare up again. But we were home.
God is very merciful to us.
