Oldies but Goodies: Monday, July 15, 2013

Monday, July 15, 2013

Since I lasted posted over a week ago there has been a lot happening.   We were able to get back into our house on Monday morning, 7/8/15. The house and yard is totally untouched and looks like nothing happened. I have posted a couple pictures of the fire to show you how close it was. We still can't believe that our house is perfect. Even our view is good although we can see the black boulders on the mountain behind our house. We did lose the food in our refrigerators and freezers as the power was off for about 6 days. Our main refrigerator is not working like it should so we are in discussion with our insurance company about that.

Now back to last Sunday. We did not make it to the worship service as we had planned. Wayne ended up on a call and I ended up on an lunch/ice run to the ICP. We were able to eat our meals (except breakfast) at the ICP until they closed down on Thursday. The meals were great and they give you enough food for a least 3 people at each meal. It was really nice for us as we did not have to worry about groceries. We did have some food in the camper but not that much. On Sunday afternoon Yarnell Fire and Peeples Valley Fire lined our engines up along the side of Highway 89 as the procession went by of the bodies of the 19 firefighters. The power company lined up 19 bucket trucks with flags along the main highway through town for the procession to go under. This was very hard to see and there were many tears. All last week there have been other fire departments from all over the state sending crews here to cover our calls. It was great as it gave us all the time we needed to grieve and get ready for the new normal that is now Yarnell.

We did not go to the memorial in Prescott on Tuesday. There were only 6 tickets available for the department and there were certainly more deserving people than us. There were many members of our crew that did know some of the 19 and they were able to go. I spent the day cleaning out my refrigerator and crying while Wayne spent the day at the department and driving around the devastation handing out water, etc. We have learned that we deal with tragedies such as this in very different ways. It has taken some time but we are both now ready to move forward and do what needs to be done. The community has pulled together in unbelievable ways. The Red Cross and Salvation Army were here all last week and this week there are several church organizations that have moved in with heavy equipment, volunteers, etc. They are helping mainly the uninsured and underinsured clean up the debris, etc. The latest numbers I have seen are that about 30% of the population were uninsured. Red Cross is still here and is handing out meals, etc.

There is a memorial that has been put up for the 19 firefighters and we spent some time there this past weekend. On Sunday I was there for about 3 hours and it was amazing to me that there was a steady line of people coming through. I received many "thank you for what you do" and lots of hugs.  Many of the people coming through were firefighters and first responders. Many of these big guys were reduced to tears and I found that many of them were feeling the same things that I was feeling so it was very helpful to me and I hope to them. On Wednesday I was at a different memorial and was just talking to one of the federal people about the town and how we were feeling. He gave me some really good insight on taking care of yourself. When I asked him what his real job was he told me he was a New York City firefighter so that made me feel better also.

Today was the first day that Yarnell Fire did not have other departments around for support. As it turned out Wayne and I were the only volunteers on duty with our assistant chief and captain. We had a call this afternoon that lighting had struck a power line so we spent some time there waiting for the power company. Shortly after that the captain and I went on a public assist to place some sandbags for a lady. One of the things I have learned this past week is that when there is a fire of this magnitude and heat the ground becomes hydrophobic. This means that it will no longer let water soak in so the water runs down the hills in sheets and brings all the ash with it. The flood danger in Yarnell is now extremely high and we did have a big storm this afternoon (.61 inches) and it came down fast. We checked out the creek below our house this evening and it is full of black sludge.

We still have barricades up on the streets to get into our neighborhood but the helicopters have stopped flying over. I don't believe that our quiet little town will ever be the same and this is really sad. They are predicting more storms over the next couple of days so it could get a little scary. Our house is high enough above the creek that we are not concerned about flooding but there are many homes that sit very close to the creek and they are in danger.   On a happy note, last night while Wayne was grilling hamburgers for dinner we looked over and there were 3 deer across the fence eating grass. We also had a couple turkey vulgers roosting in one of the trees very close to the house (they have never been that close before).

We are doing well and have a pretty good grip on our emotions. At Sunday's worship service we presented the colors with a couple other firefighters which was something I have never done before. A woman here has written a song about the fire called "Blazing Heroes".  She sang the song Sunday and it is beautiful - if I knew how to send you to it I would.

This has gotten a little long but will close now and post some pictures of what we have seen in the last week. The pictures I have posted show just a very small part of the destruction. There will be a home in perfect condition setting on a street where every other home is destroyed. It almost looks like the fire picked and chose which houses to destroy. Every day I am a little more confident that Yarnell will survive but it will be a long path.