UBM Post 19 - Fire on the mountain, Run Run Run!

This one was a close call. Terrifying and frightening.

We had a grass fire today.....very very close to our home. It charred 40 acres and came threateningly close to many homes. They were lots and lots of fire personnel, helicopters and air tankers all out on the scene to contain it.

Here is the news story:
http://www.thepresstribune.com/article/fire-burning-near-highway-50-e-bidwell-street-folsom

I was working from home today, and a friend of mine pinged me at work to let me know that our house could  be in danger. {I have to ask this person how they get such news so quickly....coz all the time, such bad news comes from their end. They are also superstitious - the couple I mean - and I have my own opinions (not too positive) about people who believe too much in all that}.

I went out into the backyard and saw helicopters hovering over the house. So I drove out in the car and within a couple of minutes, I could see the hills on the other side of the freeway all burnt. There were a couple of fire department vehicles where I was parked and they were being vigilant about our side of the freeway. They didn't want another fire starting at our end. It was a bit scary talking to them about how close the fire got to the homes.

I took some pictures on my iPhone....in the first picture, the homes on the right is our community....

See how close the fire was....jeez so scary....

I came back home and alerted the husband about it. He faced delays on his drive back from work.

It also made me pause and think - what would I take with me if I was told to evacuate and if our house was going to burn down? Ofcourse, evacuate ourselves at any cost....but if we had a little bit of time, what would I take? We keep our passports, jewelry, etc in the safe deposit box, so that would not be an issue. I guess I would quickly pack the gadgets...especially this one backup hard drive that has all my digital data. Some clothes. Few essentials for kids. Some food. We have a medical kit in the car so would not need that.

I spent some time reviewing the government guidelines on responding to emergencies and how to build an emergency kit for disasters (www.ready.gov).

I'm so grateful that no one was affected by this fire. This is the third fire in our area this summer. Last weekend, there was a fire on Intel campus that burnt many solar panels on site. It did not affect any operation but did major damage. The hot, dry weather is acting as a catalyst to grass fires this year. Hope we see some rain soon!

Too close a call...and glad to be safe!!!!