I have been contacted by several Campfire friends asking about my situation regarding the huge fire we have burning on the west side of Redding, CA, called the Carr Fire. I have been extremely busy, as explained below. I have done a cut-and-paste of the message I have shared with a couple of other members. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for the many people affected by this immense fire that is nearly doubling in size by the day. Yesterday it was at 48,000 acres. Today it is between 85,000 and 100,000 acres. Unbelevable.
Two firefighters have died fighting the fires and several firefighters have been treated for burns. A great-grandmother and two of her small great-grandchildren also perished in the fire. We have been having a lot of ash falling in our yard and on everything, for the past three days. Some "ashes" are the size of small tree leaves. This morning on our back patio I spotted a small piece of paper, not quite the size of a playing card, burned around the edges. I picked it up, and it part of a page out of someone's Bible that had been consumed by the fire.
Here is the cut-and-paste:
Thanks for thinking of us. We are safe for now. We live 5 miles east of I-5, and about 10 miles east of any ground fires. Our home is affected by lots of smoke and falling ash. Hot embers are a concern, and the folks in our area are being very watchful for possible spot fires. The amount of assets (firefighters, trucks, dozers, and aircraft) pouring into the area are unbelievable. Even the 747 bomber is here now.
Three months ago I started working part-time for a medical transport company driving a wheelchair van. We have been working 18 hour days, or more, the last several days, taking patients out of the evacuation zones. Our company has a dozen vans. We worked all night long Thursday night evacuating 139 Alzheimer's patients from a large facility, about 30% of which were in wheelchairs. A lot of our patients are on kidney dialysis, and one of the two dialysis centers in the region is closed and evacuated. That is causing major problems for the patients that need dialysis three times a week.
I got to get a good night's sleep last night for the first time in days. They insisted that I take the day off today to rest. I go back on duty tomorrow morning at 5:00AM.
We have my wife's car loaded with important files and documents and a few suitcases packed and ready to go should we have to evacuate on short notice, and full gas tanks. We have some friends on the west side of town that have lost their homes. I evacuated one family with Grandma in a wheelchair that wound up losing their home. Very sad. The thought of losing almost everything, and a lifetime of mementos and heirlooms is hard to think about. (End of cut-and-paste).
Again, a hearty "Hi" to all of you at the Armijo Springs gathering. Everybody travel safe, and have a great time. I will miss you all.
Milo
Nifty-250
"If you don't know where you're going, you may wind up somewhere else". Yogi Berra
