Black Forest Fire

June 11, 2013 will be a day we don't forget. 

 

It's funny how when you wake up in the morning, you really have no idea what the day has in store for you.  That morning we had taken Ben to an orthodontist appointment and Band Camp.  We came home and did some work around the house....like vacuuming up dandelions and fixing the chicken coop.  Keyan, Mara, and I were going on Trek up in Wyoming on Thursday, so I was getting all of our supplies packed that we needed for our "family."  Elyse and Sam were over at the neighbor's house and then around 1:00 they brought Nate back over with them because he was going to take care of Hallie for us on Thursday night, so he came to learn the routine.  Then Elyse went back with him to his house because she loved to hang out with their alpacas and baby goats.  Around 1:30, Elyse comes running back to the house and said that someone had called the neighbor and told her there was a fire in Black Forest.   I didn't think much of it, but went and got on the computer (because we didn't have t.v.) to see what I could find out.  The news was reporting a fire down in Cathedral Pines, which is about 5 miles due west of our house, and that it was moving to the northeast.  So....I initially was thinking we were in the clear.  I had the kids grab all of the scrapbooks, though, and load them in the Suburban.

  I hadn't heard anything from Keyan, so about 2:30 I called him, and he knew nothing about the fire...so he said he would do some checking and call me back.  The reports he got were the same as what I had, that the fire was moving to the northeast.  He could see the smoke from the hospital on the Academy, though, and after some debate, decided he needed to come home.  The only problem was, by this time, the roads he would normally take to come home were all blocked off and no one was being allowed in.  So, he had to find another route home, which took him far north and then he cut across and back down.  During this time, there were phone calls back and forth between us and then my parents.   My parents weren't too concerned....the fire wasn't heading their direction.   Keyan was instructing me on certain things to grab out of his closet and the gun safe.  Then the plan became to load up the trailer, but I couldn't find the hitch.  I had no idea if Keyan was going to make it home before we had to leave, and if this was the case, I wouldn't be able to take the trailer anyways.  So, I put some things in the trailer, mostly Trek gear that we had borrowed from other people, and that was it.  During this whole time, the kids were trying to put things in the car and I kept telling them, "We can replace that...only grab what we can't replace."  They did a great job....Sam was the one who was trying to bring everything, like his stuffed animals, and I kept telling him no.  But he was sneaky and threw most of them in the trailer....but he also grabbed all of our black and white baby pictures off the wall and a few other things that I just wouldn't have grabbed....and they couldn't have been replaced.  Just this once, I am so glad Sam didn't listen to me. 

I was supposed to feed the missionaries dinner that night, so I finally had to call them and say "Elders, I am so sorry, but I won't be able to feed you tonight because there is a fire and we are leaving our house.  So, we won't be here to feed you."  Kind of funny.  I had the food all ready, though, so I packed it up and loaded it in the car....why let food go to waste?

Keyan finally pulled in about 5:00 and we loaded up the chickens and rabbits and hooked up the trailer.  By this time, we could smell the smoke, and then see it coming through the trees.

 

 

We decided, after seeing this out our kitchen window, that it was time for us to leave.  It was about 5:30, and we received a reverse 911 call right before we left telling us we needed to evacuate.  My parents were still uncommitted about leaving, so at this point we called them and said "We are leaving now.  You need to leave too."

 

We gathered around the car, said a prayer, and left our home, seeing the yellow sky, which I assume was flames, out of our car window. 

 

 

 

This is the scene we observed right after we had left our house.  We were still on Herring Road, just out of the trees when we looked back.  That was the first time we had really seen the fire and saw just how close it was to us.  We pulled out of the house about 5:45....the police blotter said the fire jumped Herring Road at 6:15. 

 

 

 

We drove out to the Matthew's house in Peyton where we dropped off our chickens and rabbits.  We met my parents there, then caravanned to Wayne and Julie Burgess' house in Gleneagle.  We were glued to the t.v. that night....it didn't look good.  We got a call the next morning from our neighbor, who is a policeman, who told us that they had gotten in and that our house was just a slab now.  Their house was the only one on that stretch of road that had not burned down.  We asked her to drive by my parent's house and give us a report.  We were so hoping that their house would have made it, then we would have had one house where we could all congregate and have a sense of normalcy.  She called the next day, though, and reported that their house had also burned to the ground. 

 

So now what?  Well, lots of sleepless nights as we thought of everything that we didn't bring.  Calls in to the insurance company.  Calls in to real estate agents to try and find a house to rent.  At this point, they were only reporting about 13 houses burned.  We knew it was going to be a lot more.....and the number did grow to over 500.  We knew it would be important to get ahead of everyone else in finding a home.  Keyan ended up calling a for sale by owner to see if he'd be interested in renting us his house for a year, and it turned out to be someone he worked with down in Florida.  So........that all worked out.  Expensive...but the insurance company is paying for the rent.

Keyan was going out of town the following Wednesday....we finally got access into our property Tuesday night, a week after the fire. 

 

I guess it's not a good sign to see the ribbons all over your mailbox.

 

Driving into the house....all black.

 

 

Just as a comparison, this is what it used to be like....

 

 

 Complete and utter destruction....I would say this is a total loss.

 

There was still some smoldering on the ground when we were allowed to drive in a week after the fire.

Sooooo black.

 

 The chicken coop....just that morning Ben and I had been hauling rocks to put around the edges of the coop because our dog Hallie was determined to dig her way in.  Looking back on it now....what a wasted effort.  That morning I had also been out in the front lawn sucking up all the dandelion seeds with a vacuum cleaner.  If I had only known....I would have spent my time doing something more meaningful (like packing).

We were just really getting started on landscaping the back of the house.  Keyan had bought a bunch of plants and a really nice tree that was just waiting to be put into the ground.  Once again....if we had known, we would have saved our money.  I remember before leaving taking the hose and watering the plants in the backyard because I didn't want them to die while we were evacuated.  Funny, huh?

Thanks, Ben, for keeping a smile on your face through all of this. 

Can you guess what this is?  My beautiful baby grand piano.....my parents bought this for me when I was in middle school and had kept it until I had room for it in my house.  We had moved it out to Florida two years ago, then moved it back here to my parents house while we looked for a place to live, and then finally brought it to the Herring house.  We all loved this piano.  It was beautiful and full of memories.

The hot tub that came with the house....and didn't work.  Guess what?  We still claimed it on our insurance.  I guess something good can come out of this.

The morning of the fire, the kids had some worksheets to get done.  Amazingly, this worksheet of Sam's survived the fire.  Crazy, huh?

 

Standing in our garage....we really should have cleaned up.  I was trying to clean up the kitchen before we left.  I wiped down the counters, put some dishes in the dishwasher.  We found those dishes still in the dishwasher......but they weren't clean.

 

It took awhile for me to want to go dig in the rubble.  We found a few things....things that were made out of ceramic.  I will only buy ceramic from now on.  I really only dug through the rubble about 3 times.  It's just such a mess and so overwhelming.  We could see where our bookcases had been because there were big piles of soft white ash.  Keyan found a few pieces that he could still make out some words on, but as soon as you touched it, it just became dust.  There is nothing useful in there.  It's all gone. 

 

Mara received a letter and a package from Elaine S. Dalton, who was just released as the General Young Women's President of the LDS Church.  This is something to hold on to and make sure to take if we ever have to evacuate again.

 

 

Sam is a great finder of treasure.  He helped me dig through the part of the house where we had all our Christmas decorations and ornaments stored and we uncovered this ceramic statue of Santa Claus kneeling at the manger.  Love that we found this. 

Our food storage...........not sure it's going to be good anymore. 

 

The things I found digging around in Mara's room....she had so many of these figurines....once again, it was the ceramic ones that survived.

 

On to my parent's house.....we really wish that either their house or ours would have been spared so that we could both be settled somewhere.  It wasn't meant to be, I guess.   They at least have some trees still looking green, but across from their house it looks just like ours....all black.  They say they don't want to look at that for the rest of their days so they are looking at other pieces of property, not so much in the trees, though. 

 

 

 

 

My dad had parked his truck and tractor out on the road, hoping that they'd be safe there.  And amazingly, they were.  They both started right up.

What can you say when you see this?  Really, nothing.  It's just like my mom looks....sad, amazed, confused....

The brick fireplace where I loved to sit and warm myself. 

Isn't this a great picture?  The flag still stands after the fire bombs were bursting in air.  I told my dad he needed to lower to flag to half-mast, though.  I think it's appropriate.

 

A stepping stone that my kids made for mom and dad survived. 

Dad had just gotten his woodshop all finished....he had so many tools and saws and was having a great time building furniture for people. 

Sadly, the '57 Chevy didn't make it.  If only it had been parked on the road, right?  That's the thing, though....none of us were really expecting to return to a burnt house.  We all thought we were just evacuating for a few days. 

 

Tell me, how did the fire not burn these plastic flowers?

 

Mom's china.....she saved a couple of pieces that were intact. 

 

Mom and dad were interviewed by a new's channel.  They are famous....

I am amazed at how well my mom and dad are doing.  They have lived at this house for 35 years.  That is a lot of stuff and a lot of memories and a lot of labor and sweat.  It's just so devastating to have it all lost so quickly....and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.  "It is what it is" is the new favorite phrase amongst us fire victims.

 

 

People always ask us if we're going to rebuild.  Good question.....Do we want to live in a black forest (literally) because it won't be like it was for another 100 years.  Do we want to do our part to make it look nice again?  Do we just want to leave it all behind and do something different?  All good questions and we hope that we can clearly see what Heavenly Father wants us to do sooner than later.