Evacuated!

Thank you to all who prayed for our family last Saturday, as a fire broke out in Corona and made its way, miles and miles away, to Yorba Linda and beyond. Last Saturday was certainly a day you would rather not remember but certainly can't forget.

I was on my to Long Beach and was stopped on the freeway because of a fire in Corona on the side of the freeway. Addysen and I watched airplanes and helicopters drop water on this fire and saw the firefighters on the freeway but really didn't think much of it. Three hours later, on the way home, this is what I saw:

For my mid-west kin.....doesn't this look like an F5 tornado?? I called my mom and she asked that I stop by just to check out the traffic from her house, so we didn't get stuck on the freeway. When I arrived in Yorba Linda, my mom heard that we might be evactuated, so she and I started gathering pictures and valuables and loading them into the car. I was planning to finish helping and then leave, but I guess I doddled too much and I got stuck. All of the freeways leading to my house shut down! I was really waiting for my dad to come home, but since the freeways were shut down, he had to turn around after three hours and go to my in-laws house to hang out. At 5:30, we got the call to evacuate. We loaded up the cars with snacks, drinks, the dogs and left. After three and half hours, 5 freeways, one stop for food and one stop for gas, we arrived at the Hohenstein family's house, where my parents spent the night. Ryan went back home to protect the house. Luckily, the house was safe and my family is back home. But man that fire got so close! The whole area was just ugly: smokey, ashey, dark....it was surreal and frightening.

We were all so thankful to have each other through this process and also thankful that Addysen was so calm and easy going that day.

The aftermath of this fire will be evident for a long time. All of the hills are burnt between Corona and Yorba Linda, there are apartments on the side of the freeway that are burnt, you can see where the fire jumped the freeway, and all of the trees that were along the freeway are now black. Its so desolate and sad.

Here are a few more pictures from the fires: (remember to click on them to make bigger)

The sun, and the beginning of the smoke cover

The evacuation. Forgive my dirty windshield, but if you can see that orange flame in the top of the picture, that's where the fire way. We were at the cross roads of Village Center and Yorba Linda Blvd. The fire pictured here was right above the Vons, which is right across from my parents house.


As a side note: It really helps to be prepared for this sort of thing, even if it never happens. When you are in the moment, its easy to forget what to take with you. And its also hard to choose what to take with you. I'd also ask that you pray for those who lost their homes in these fires.