That is what I was asking myself as I pulled up to my house on Saturday to see my neighbors having a car parade out of our street. It had been a bit tricky getting home, actually I had to make a u-turn on the freeway with the rest of the traffic as they had closed it due to the fire- I thought in Corona/Anaheim Hills. Turns out there were fires there, and also as close as two streets up from my house. Fire that was raining red embers and creating it’s own weather pattern moving 100 feet per minute. Makes you think about what is important- turns out not much other than my animals, a few papers and some medical stuff. Of course, we don’t have young children at home who equate a place and their things with safety and routine. (Unless you count my husband as a young child but I think we can give him a break this time) So- got the pets- their food and meds, a few things, and got out in 30 minutes.
Everyone and the house are fine. Even the air quality on our hill is good- the smoke blew west. After I came home, the neighborhood was evacuated and we were allowed to re-enter the next day. No damage to our home, but sadly many homes in our tract were burned to the ground as the fire was moving so quickly. There were also many more homes that were saved thanks to quick thinking neighbors who put out trees/landscaping that caught on fire with garden hoses. The firemen did not have time/warning to get there with all the fires in the area and pump station down.
So- husband, 3 dogs, cat, and caterpillars spent a night away. We came home to find everyone (even the wild bunnies in the woodpile) just fine except for some -okay a lot- of soot and ash.
We received many calls from friends, family and clients. We are safe and well and hope everyone else is too.
-Lisa
Also- we did receive alerts on our home and cell phones about the evacuation notices through alertOC. This is an emergency notification system that will call or text your home/cell (you specify) with emergency warnings and updates. Had we been sleeping while the fires came through, this would have been very helpful.
