Home safe and sound

We’re fine, our home is fine, and all our nearest neighbors are fine, as is most of downtown. We got home today and found everything just as we left it four days ago. In the meantime we stayed with my sister, her husband, and her two dogs, who kindly took us in along with our dog, and made us feel very secure and cared for. Thank you, all of you who contacted us and expressed your concern.

I’d never been evacuated before. It’s a surreal experience, especially early on when you don’t know whether you’ll have a home to return to. All I can say is that the more information local governments can provide evacuees the better, whether it’s positive or negative news. Information makes people feel less helpless and forgotten and tells them what they need to do, how to begin as soon as possible to get back to normal and to find a thread connecting them to their future. Sitting and waiting without much information doesn’t work for most of us. I learned in the past four days that it definitely doesn’t work for me, and I usually think of myself as a fairly patient person.

Our community lost about 206 homes out of a total of (I’m guessing) 15,000 to 20,000. Of course when its your home the numbers don’t matter. Losing the roof over your head and all your things is a huge deal, no matter how little or much you start out with. My dad, niece, and nephews learned that a year and a half ago. My heart, hopes, prayers, and wishes go out to all those who lost their homes, and most especially to the families of those who lost their lives and to those who were injured.

The incredible thing to see, on our drive home, were places where the hills were burned almost bare, where the fire had made it right up to the houses but so many of them remained untouched. Our firefighters are amazing and heroic. They clearly went to every extent possible to save as many homes as possible, everywhere they could in those raging winds and dry, blazing heat, in all shapes of landscape — canyons, gullies, rocky hillsides, you name it. Little pockets of miracles stand out in the hills of Southern California. The sad thing is that in a Santa Ana condition, fires start so quickly and spread so fast that they do a lot of damage before help even arrives. There’s just not much the firefighters can do about that. As it is, I think they’re miracle workers.

There’s still some smoke, and all the fires aren’t out yet, but the winds have died down and there’s a bit more moisture in the air. That’s helping the ongoing efforts to contain and keep hot embers from re-igniting. But everyone here is tired. Even those of us who did very little about the fires are tired with worry. I’m off to rest up and get back to normal.