On the way home, around 8:30pm, it was like armageddon. There were one or two cars besides ours driving into Herriman while hundreds were leaving. We kept saying "Should we turn around now?" We didn't.
As we turn south on 5600 west toward home we just gasped. It looked like lava flowing down the mountain toward our house. So bizarre. I was sure whole neighborhoods were lost.
We made it home and some of our neighbors were packing up to leave. Some were already gone, and some were just standing in their yards staring at the hill.
Vinny and Zander started to freak out a little.
They went in the house to their rooms. Vinny had plans to get dozens of garbage bags and pack his whole room. Zander loaded one backpack with his pillow, favorite blanket and a stuffed animal. Zander REALLY wanted to go to the High School that was being used as the official shelter to spend the night. Oh, he thought that sounded fun.
Then Vinny started to cough. Oh great. He's been hospitalized for his asthma one too many times. Zander asked if he could say a prayer. Duh! Why didn't we think of that? So we knelt down and Zander offered a heartfelt plea for safety. My sweet crazy boys were asleep in the basement 20 minutes later. Blessings.
Jereme decided to go to bed to. He can sleep through ANYTHING! I followed the evacuation reports on twitter. At 11 pm My entire family was asleep and the mandatory evacuation map looked like this:
That's us under that shiny star and the flames were moving east. Yikes.
This is the view from the window above my stairs at the same time. Kinda blurry I know.
My chest and throat hurt and I was coughing and cursing out Jereme for not getting us out of here. Or maybe for being able to sleep so soundly. I decided to stop obsessing over Twitter and wait for the police cars to come down the street and tell us to leave. They never did.
I was so touched by all of the calls and facebook posts of people looking out for us. Such generous friends and family members offering help for whatever we needed. Even some of the parents from Zander's football team emailed everyone to offer their homes for the night. So nice.
At 2AM I went outside and saw this:
and this:
I waited all night and the police never came. I started to worry about the deer. After killing one with my car last week and now so many of them homeless I looked around for some food to put out for them. That's when I realized I was sleep deprived and losing my marbles.
Sunrise. It's amazing how much comfort daylight brings.
School was cancelled for the boys. Of course they were thrilled. I however, had to go to class. So I washed the ash off of my windshield and drove through our now eerie little town. Soldiers in fatigues and berets standing guard at barricades down the street making sure people had "legitimate" reasons for being there. By the time I made it to the freeway, I was in a different world. Life carrying on like normal. When I finally made it to school, smelling like I came straight from camp, nobody even mentioned the fire.
Then I drove home. Not as creepy this time. But there was still a fire and a military presence. I was allowed to proceed to my home. Phew!
Now it's nearly 7PM on Monday. The fire is still going strong and people one street over are still evacuated. The High School is housing evacuees again (don't tell Zan) but I'm sure we'll be okay.
I'm going to try to get some sleep tonight. Probably in my clothes. With my bag packed by my bed. And my cell phone under my pillow set to Twitter. But sleep nevertheless.
Thanks again for all of the well-wishes. So sorry for the three families that lost their homes. Hopefully it ends tonight.
