Fire... a little too close.

Last Thursday afternoon Steve called to tell me that his parents had been evacuated from their house because there was a fire really close.  We had no idea what was going on and there were several phone calls made to to get filled in.  A fire started at a house in an area south of Pocatello near Steve's parents called Mink Creek.  Between the dry weather, heat and wind the fire got out of control and spread fast.  Steve's mom and dad had enough time to grab their dogs and computers before they had to get out of their house.  We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening watching the news trying to get any indication of where the fire was.  We had such a sick feeling knowing their home was in such danger and really not knowing for sure if it was standing or not.  The next day was much of the same with an update here and there that it was still ok.  They got to go up with an escort to get any essentials like medicine on Friday but still had to stay out.  They had no idea how long they would be out of their house and heard reports of houses of people they know being lost.

They got to go home Saturday afternoon which was a lot faster than we all thought and thankfully had power and water which they were told they would not for up to a week.  The fire had changed direction but was still not completely contained until Tuesday.  A total of 66 houses had been burned with 20 of them being completely lost, but thankfully no one was hurt.  So sad and scary.  It was a pretty traumatic experience for them and truly scary how close it came.  The fire had come to directly across the street before the winds changed direction.  They know the police chief who was in charge and he said they were all watching and thought for sure that their house was going to be next before the winds made a 180 change.  Once again, so scary.  Really makes you think about being prepared for emergencies and also remembering that the truly important things aren't really things.  We're so thankful that their home was spared and that they are all ok now.

I took this from their front yard.  You can see that it is all burned across the street.  It's hard to see, but directly behind the flagpole is an old motor home that is completely destroyed.

We think this is some kind of garage or shop.  The funny thing is that a lot of the homes that were destroyed, you couldn't even see before because they were hidden by very large trees.

This was a house, seriously looks like a war zone.

Just part of the hills and mountains that are all black now.  Looks pretty sad and grim.