Sunday, July 7, 2013

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Well, it is has been quite an interesting few days since I last posted.  We did arrive in Rolla on Sunday (a day earlier than we had planned) and it was great to see my family.

However, as many of you know, Sunday afternoon we received notice that we had to evacuate our house in Yarnell as there was a wild land fire very close.  Luckily Eric (my youngest son), his wife Amy and their good friends Tiffany and Ryland were in Flagstaff and were able to go by the house and get what they could and drive our car down to Phoenix.  From the pictures they sent me we were almost certain that we would not have a house in Yarnell to return to.  On Monday afternoon we found out that we did indeed still have a house and decided at that time we needed to get back as we knew there would be much that needed to be done as there were many homes destroyed.  We left Rolla on Thursday, 7/4 and arrived in Yarnell yesterday around 4 p.m.  We were stuck in Amarillo for a full day as the oil cooler and egr valve on the truck decided to go out.  The dealership (Tri-State Ford) was very helpful and put an extra person on the job so they could get it done and got us back on the road by about 6 p.m.

Since we volunteer on the Yarnell Fire Department we were able to get past the roadblock (with a phone call from one of our captains) but were only allowed to go to the fire station.  We have not been allowed to go into our house as the evacuation is still in effect and probably will be until Tuesday or Wednesday.  At the present time we are staying in our camper at the fire station which is actually not a bad thing.  We can shower and use the restroom in the station and were able to plug into their electricity so we have lights, etc.  Also, since we are with the department we were allowed to go to the ICP (Incident Command Post) last night.  What an amazing thing this is; it is like a small town was built in a day to handle anything that could come up.  We ate at the cafeteria there and the food was okay (actually pretty good considering where they are and what they are trying to do).  I believe that we will be able to eat there until they close up and call the fire totally contained - last I heard last night was I believe 90%.  We also have food with us in the camper so are set for a while.

We were taken on a tour of our house and some of the surrounding areas.  It is the craziest thing, our house and the neighborhood around us is perfectly intact.  The trees are green and it looks like nothing happened.  However, within a quarter mile of our house there are homes that have been completely destroyed.  The devastation we have seen is overwhelming.  We have not been allowed to take pictures as they are trying very hard to protect the privacy of the people whose homes have been destroyed.  There is a church service today at 10:30 that we are going to try to attend and the caravan of the 19 fire fighters bodies will be coming through town around 1 p.m. this afternoon on the way to Prescott so we will be here for that. 

This is going to be a very long, hard road for Yarnell to come back and I don't think it will ever be the same.

I will try to update the blog regularly to get you all up to date.