Down here they don’t think we’re in danger of evacuation right now, so we’re officially at Ready, not Set. We’re not back to minimal fire danger, a spark could easily start another one.
We also got permission to go up to the land by ourselves. The Emergency Management head made a list of eligible people, and we had to give the policeman guarding the highway our name and show him our drivers’ licenses, but we were free to go. We went up after lunch and could see signs of the fire, but it was still a beautiful drive.
When we arrived at our place one fireman was there and more came. They were putting out a fire in a nearby canyon. We took pictures for two neighbors on our way up, but we didn’t go down to Beate and Tim’s because we would have been in the way. The firefighter said their place was still fine.
I’ll write more tomorrow, and I’m putting a potful of pictures into a Flickr album, but thought I would publish this now. Take care!
May 17, 2022
looks like you missed a bullet (as the saying goes) but sure looks smoky not very far away…and so happy you could both enter the zone and see for yourselves…
They say they will open the highway Thursday or Friday so we won’t need to show identification. They wanted to wait so traffic wouldn’t interfere with the firefighters.
Oh my, how sad. But I’m glad you could go and see for yourselves.
Not that sad. The fire burned a lot of the piles of dead logs so there is less fuel to burn in the next fire. This fire was more like the natural fires in the area. The problem is after about 100 years of fire suppression the forests were overgrown and the fires like our 2011 one were intense.
As they say…seeing is believing. Just glad your structures are sound. This whole ordeal was difficult. You two put up a brave front, but still there had to have been anxious times!!!
We were pretty relaxed, except when we had to think about where we would go if we evacuated and what we would take. Once we had a strategy everything was relaxed again.
What a relief it must be to have been able to go up there and see for yourself.
Yes. 🙂
Oh, I am glad your place is still standing.
Thank you!
I am so happy for this update and hope this means you are safe this year. I am wondering if your gazing ball is still there. Did you try to see it? sad photos of the smoking ground..
We haven’t had a chance to check the gazing ball yet, and we’re not out of danger. We’re supposed to be vigilant and ready to evacuate if another fire comes along. We’re back to the “tinderbox waiting for a match” situation. So we haven’t unpacked and have places to look for temporary lodging if need be.
About the smoking ground…some of that was beneficial, it extended our defensible space. There were a couple of big piles of wood that we wanted to burn if we ever got enough snow. The fire took care of them for us.
What a mixed bag of emotions! I wonder if the firefighters were curious about Andy’s greenhouse?
Yes, they did comment on it. Especially when we harvested some lettuce and beet greens to take home.
I’m so relieved that things seem to be getting back to normal!
but our ‘normal’ these days seems to be an ever changing thing.
I’m SO relieved that Beate and Tim’s place was saved too.
you take wonderful pictures btw… it’s as if we’re standing right there! xo
Thanks. Yes, the new normal is different from the old, and it won’t be stable.
From these photos it looks like your defensive clearing area did its trick.
Apparently the firefighters also helped. I’m guessing our place didn’t take as much work as some others.
Yay! Everything is safe and sound. How wonderful to get to see that for yourselves! Thanks for sharing the relief with all of us.
Thank you!