It's been a crazy week as all of you can imagine. We can't even grasp what people are going through. In our area I would have to say that we have been pretty fortunate!! There has been 23,000 acres burned and to date they have only completely lost 14 homes. - how awesome is that? Hat's off to these incredible Fire Crews that have been tirelessly working 24/7 to ensure the safety of people and their homes.Fires are nothing new to us here in California and if you have a dry winter mixed with strong Santa Ana winds - it's never a happy ending. Then if and when we do get some rain it's almost a guarantee that mud slides and floods are soon to follow - with nothing in the burned out areas to soak up the water - it all rushes back down into the affected areas. So, even though their houses were saved....it's not over for a lot of these homeowners unfortunately.
Kim's brother was evacuated on Monday night from the Portola Hills/Foothill Ranch area. As soon as the transformers started exploding on the nearby power lines - he knew it was time to leave. His house was spared as were all of the ones in his area. He was able to go back into it last night once the re-opened the road and found a lovely thick layer of dust everywhere. He swept out a two inch thick layer of ash from his garage that had been closed..... yuck! He took one look around and decided that if that's what the garage looked like - what were his lungs going to look like and decided to stay out one more night.
The picture above was taken from the Mission Viejo Lake by Kim's Parent's house.
The air here in Aliso is pretty bad. They have shut all of the schools down in the two major school districts in our area dues to the poor conditions. We have all been told to stay indoors with the windows closed and to run the air conditioning. Looking out the window it's a dingy grey color with a hint or orange and you can see ash flying around to remind you how dry it is....not like a normal foggy day here that is usually grey with a white tone that you can tell is damp. It's very odd. There are times when you can look at the flames and smoke and the only thing that comes to mind is Armageddon.
Drew's family is all out of state and has had to watch the places they lived and grew up in go up in flames. His parents were introduced through Malibu Presbyterian Church that burned to the ground and then Lake Arrowhead is a very dim version of what it was only a week ago. They also lived in eastern San Diego which is still overrun with fire. It's just heartbreaking.
Again, we can't give enough credit to all the fire fighters and crew members that are risking their lives in each of these areas to save people's homes and all of their treasured memories. It really is a tragic sight here. The volunteers at all of the evacuation sites have done an amazing job of trying to make the evacuees a little more comfortable in the midst of their own personal trials.
Anyway, be praying for those who have lost their homes and give praise for those that are going the extra mile to make a difference when some people have very little hope.
The air here in Aliso is pretty bad. They have shut all of the schools down in the two major school districts in our area dues to the poor conditions. We have all been told to stay indoors with the windows closed and to run the air conditioning. Looking out the window it's a dingy grey color with a hint or orange and you can see ash flying around to remind you how dry it is....not like a normal foggy day here that is usually grey with a white tone that you can tell is damp. It's very odd. There are times when you can look at the flames and smoke and the only thing that comes to mind is Armageddon.
Drew's family is all out of state and has had to watch the places they lived and grew up in go up in flames. His parents were introduced through Malibu Presbyterian Church that burned to the ground and then Lake Arrowhead is a very dim version of what it was only a week ago. They also lived in eastern San Diego which is still overrun with fire. It's just heartbreaking.
Again, we can't give enough credit to all the fire fighters and crew members that are risking their lives in each of these areas to save people's homes and all of their treasured memories. It really is a tragic sight here. The volunteers at all of the evacuation sites have done an amazing job of trying to make the evacuees a little more comfortable in the midst of their own personal trials.
Anyway, be praying for those who have lost their homes and give praise for those that are going the extra mile to make a difference when some people have very little hope.
If you are interested in helping - here are some sites that you might find helpful.
1 comment:
I'm glad to hear that you guys are safe - as are you loved ones. Theresa actually headed down to the area today to help field phone calls coming through United Way 211..
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