We are back in our home now. There are still 450 homes evacuated, and they only have the fire 25% contained. We feel safe though, if it got bad again, we know they'd let us know and kick us out again. And surprisingly our home does not even smell like smoke!
There are a lot of photos here, but I wanted you to get some perspective on how close we were, and how much closer other homes were but did not get burned!
Helicopter lowering the bucket
After we ate dinner with my parents, we decided to go up to the reservoir above our home to see the helicopter come scoop up the water. It was really cool to see! The kids also loved it...until the fire started to get closer and closer. We were not up by the reservoir for too long, the fire was going faster and faster.
Okay perspective time: See that mountain behind the helicopter, it is completely black now. The fire came right down to these homes' back yard!
There are a lot of photos here, but I wanted you to get some perspective on how close we were, and how much closer other homes were but did not get burned!
Helicopter lowering the bucketAfter we ate dinner with my parents, we decided to go up to the reservoir above our home to see the helicopter come scoop up the water. It was really cool to see! The kids also loved it...until the fire started to get closer and closer. We were not up by the reservoir for too long, the fire was going faster and faster.
Okay perspective time: See that mountain behind the helicopter, it is completely black now. The fire came right down to these homes' back yard!
Helicopter dipping the bucket
Taking it to the fireWe felt pretty safe here. Just seeing the smoke.
We could see the flames in the reflection off the smoke. We're getting more nervous.
Smoke going clear across the valley. The fire is scary close the the homes. These homes are still evacuated.
Looking worried. Poor Ryan was the most scarred. He was squeezing his bear pretty tight.
It's getting bigger.
Where we start to see flames. Ethan just thought it was cool to throw rocks in the water.
My camera is not meant to be used at night, so sorry for the bad pictures.
Flames getting higher. And coming down the mountain.
Here we saw the fire "jumping" down the mountain. This is when we decided to head back home. And see what we were supposed to do. We live a 1/2 mile from this fire. Other homes were a lot closer though!
This picture was taken from my back yard. This is when we heard the bull horn saying it was time to evacuate and get out now. We took 10 mins. to pack up some belongings and headed out with the rest of Herriman.
Thankfully our home is just fine, so are all of our neighbors homes (that I know of).
We are currently hearing helicopters and planes fly over head still trying to beat this fire. The winds are supposed to pick up this afternoon. I better go shave my legs just in case we have to go again :-)
(I'm just teasing, I'm sure we won't have to evacuate again)
13 comments:
Hey, Kelly...glad your home survived! Just wondering...the homes ABOVE that reservoir...were they affected? We drove over a couple of months ago to look at some homes and drove up there. There were only 4 or 5 homes there, but we are wondering if they were burned?? They were HUGE homes!
Glad everything was ok for you. The summer we moved down here there was the Filmore fires and we were on the freeway by Cove Fort (me and both little kids) and the fire came so fast it jumped the freeway right in front of us and they shut it down and we all had to turn around. Ya, fires can be cool but scary when they are too close.
Sharon - they are still there. Can you believe it? Here is a link for some photos: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=460&sid=12513662&pid=34
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=460&sid=12513662&pid=35
(you can see the reservoir in the top right corner)
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=460&sid=12513662&pid=41
The fire got right up to their yard, but it did not burn their home. It really was a miracle that only 4 homes burned down!
That is nice that you were able to go home finally! I am glad everything turned out okay:) Hopefully the winds don't make things worse again!!
goodness Kelly-I am so glad you are back home-even though it is only a home, the thought of losing it is devastating .
How scary! I hope your boys aren't too worried anymore! My sis-in-law's parents live up there, too, and of course had to evacuate. How did the fire start?
Those are some pretty good pictures. I bet it would be so weird being that close. I was surprised to know that the fires started there in the past years were from one business. What a weird thing. That would be really frustrating. Anyway, that was just from news channel. I haven't had time for tv lately, uggh. Well I am glad you guys are okay and it would be strange to go through your house to decide what to take and what to leave behind. Crazy...
So glad so many homes were saved, including yours!! What a scary night that was.
Regan- They were started by Camp Williams. They were practicing Machine Gun Shooting on the other side of the mountain. The fire started at noon and they did not call Unified Fire Dept. until 3:30. They were practicing under a red flag warning (which means they were not supposed to be shooting, it was too hot and dry and the winds were too high).
Scary, scary! We watched it come over the ridge and thought of all those I know that live in that area including you! Sooo glad the winds shifted when they did!
Cute Blog! You got some amazing pics. I love the one of the boys and Ryan Hugging his Bear. Caden was really scared too.
Dad said you did a great job telling what happened. What a crazy evening, huh. I'm glad we had dinner at your house that night instead of at mine so that you had a chance to get your valuables out just in case instead of a panicking night worring if you couldn't even have been able to go back home. Give the boys a hug from Grandma!! Love mom
What up. So I think you live right by my brothers...weird right? They all had to sleep at my mom's house-the only valuable they grabbed were their clothes. No family pictures or anything...morons. Really good pictures though-I would've freaked out.
CRAZY.
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