Wildfire threatened my home

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   Sherry Hewinsposted 7 years ago

   As many of you are probably aware, California is in a record-breaking drought right now. Yesterday, at about 2:30, I started hearing airplanes continually taking off from the small airport near my house. I knew this usually signals a fire in the area. Within a couple of hours, the fire had spread to thousands of acres, and there were evacuations and road closures only a couple of miles from me. I had my bag packed in case I had to go. Today, the fire seems to have turned. It seems like I will be OK here.
   
   Have you ever experienced a wild fire, earthquake, hurricane or other disaster. Please share your experience here.

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      Patty Inglish, MSposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I am sorry that the fire came so near to you!
      
      My experience was with the tail end of a hurricane a few years ago that wiped out the power in my half of the city for a week. Much was lost.  Only a few mild tremblors have hit Ohio, though; just some rumblings.
      
      The worst was the Franklin County 2012 power failure for over weeks during 100+ F heat wave. Parts of the county were down for a month and many senior citizens became ill.

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         Sherry Hewinsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Patty Inglish - This fire is threatening power, I lost power twice, for only a couple of minutes. Many in the area have been without for longer though.
         
         I live in the country, and power outages are common in the winter here. A couple of years ago we were without power for 20 days in November because of downed power lines in heavy snows.

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            Patty Inglish, MSposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            That is frightening!

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      relacheposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, I was living in Santa Cruz, CA at the time.  Only a handful of the downtown pedestrian mall buildings fell down in those first moments, but in the end something like three-quarters of them were condemned.  I knew two people who had direct relations who were killed in the same building collapse.  Hundreds of electrical and gas workers were sent to the town and it took them a couple weeks to get everyone's lines checked and turned back on.
      
      Several years later, a couple I knew had to flee fires in the CA mountains, just south of Santa Cruz.  The fire burned to the ridge line above their home and was stopped.  They said the experience made them more clear as a couple on what was most important to them, and they weren't referring solely to material possessions.

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         Sherry Hewinsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Wow, that must have been quite an experience! I remember the awful video on TV coverage of that earthquake. A true, life-threatening emergency will certainly put your priorities in order.

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   FatFreddysCatposted 7 years ago

   Hurricane Irene in 2011 knocked my power out for nine and a half days and filled my basement with two and a half feet of water. To say "It sucked" is a massive understatement...
   
   Hope the wild fires pass you by!!

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      Sherry Hewinsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Wow! Hurricanes sound really frightening, but at least the water didn't make it past the basement. Glad you weathered the storm.

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   tirelesstravelerposted 7 years ago

   So glad you are safe for now. My philosophy is to have a plan for evacuation and earthquakes, then not worry.

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      Sherry Hewinsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I agree tirelesstraveler. This one was a little too close for comfort though.

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   erorantesposted 7 years ago

   Hello miss Sherry Hewins. I am sorry. You are going through difficult moments in your life. I can feel your concern about the fire. You need to call the fire department for advice, so you can determine your situation. Your life is very important. At this moment, relocation is your best option. I experienced many natural disasters during my life. Everything is bad. You need to be strong and move to a safe place. Changes are for better life. God will help you.

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      Sherry Hewinsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I feel pretty confident staying here until I am notified that it's time to evacuate. I have great up-to-the-minute info via yubanet.com

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   wildernessposted 7 years ago

   Ice storm.  Freezing rain coated everything until trees popped like toothpicks and covered roads everywhere.  No one could get out of the community, and power was out over 10 days.
   
   Our neighbor had a tree through their roof; between the two of us we could heat our home and do some limited cooking, so we teamed up at our place and did our best to seal his roof with a tree going through it.  Others walked out and caught a ride on the freeway intersection 3 miles away.  Everyone pitched in (lots of chain saws) and had our community roads cleared of trees in 2-3 days, but still no power for days and days, which meant the community well was down, too, and no water.  No one had gas that far out of town.  There must have been over 200 trees down across the 34 miles of road - lots of clean up for the maintenance crew, but everyone had firewood!

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      Sherry Hewinsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      That's kind of wonderful. Your community really pulled together in their time of need.

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   LongTimeMotherposted 7 years ago

   Sherry, we are experiencing winter frosts in my part of the world right now, but Australia also suffers from fires during summer and when fire threatens my home I get out. I'm greatly relieved the fire turned away from your home.
   
   Because fires can travel at frightening speeds and many of our roads are tree-lined, I built an underground fire bunker where we can take refuge in an emergency. Not fancy, but hopefully effective. For the past few years, when the fire season is in full swing, I've been moving a few boxes of family 'treasures' into the bunker for storage. (I'd hate a fire to come through when I wasn't home and burn things I couldn't save.)
   
   Eventually my husband agreed to help me make my small bunker bigger. We extended it to be able to accommodate my stored boxes, our family, the family from next door if necessary, plus a few extra visitors if needed.
   
   Many others in our area live off-grid like we do, so power interruptions are not such a problem here. As long as there's a few homes standing, we can cook and accommodate others. However I do fear for those who don't have a hole in the ground or some kind of fireproof shelter if ever we are in the path of a big one.
   
   Wishing for rain for you ... Stay safe.

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      Sherry Hewinsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Making that bunker was very resourceful of you. Still, I hope you never have to use it.

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   Marcy Goodfleischposted 7 years ago

   First, I hope you are safe and that the fire is getting contained - we had a huge firestorm in my area a few years ago, and it was terrifying. I had the bag packed, too, and a box of important papers and photos, ready to leave. At one point, a fire broke out blocks from my street, and ashes were falling around us. My neighbors' smoke alarm even went off.  Everyone on my street was out loading their cars - but they got it under control fairly quickly.
   
   Second - YES - I was in Hurricane Camille in 1969 - one of only a few Category Five hurricanes to hit the U.S.  We huddled under a mattress for hours, and I thought sure I was going to die. It ripped the roof off the house we were in and the windows exploded (we were more inland during the storm).  When we returned to our house, there had been several feet of water in it & we lost everything.
   
   I wrote a hub about it - it's still published on this site. I won't post the link, but it gives more details. It was, in retrospect, a very interesting thing to experience, but not one I'd sign up for.  Nothing you can do but give thanks you lived through it and go forward.

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   GiftsByDianaposted 7 years ago

   Sherry,
   That is so scary !
   Please be careful.
   Back in 1985, we had an F5 tornado come through our area and it took out so much for so many towns.  It hopped and skipped around our area for many miles.  It was (and still is odd) odd for a tornado to stay down for so long as they usually only stay down for a brief time.  This one went through Niles, Ohio; Girard, Ohio; my town of Hubbard, Ohio; and then onto Wheatland, PA. + a few other towns. 
   There were also several other tornadoes in the area that day, but this one was about the worst.
   It didn't hit my side of town, but tore out huge sections just on the other side.
   Back then, we had no cell phones of course, so the scariest part was not knowing where my parents and my brother were and if they were okay.

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      Sherry Hewinsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Tornadoes sound like the absolute worst! My son-in-law's live in Ohio. They lost their home a couple of years ago to a tornado. Their daughter's house was also damaged. It's so random how they hit one house and spare another.

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         GiftsByDianaposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         I'm sorry about their home, but hopefully they are all okay.
         This past May was the 30th anniversary of that big storm and we had a thunderstorm come in and with it, there was a brief, small tornado which scared all of us so much as we were all thinking about the last one !

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   paicheceposted 7 years ago

   its so hot there that every body gets burnt and forest fires.

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    paicheceposted 7 years ago

    I here that California has a lot of sex abuse to our young girls am I right or wrong??

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