Our neighborhood is still in Evacuation Level 3, that's the get out now designation. Being here means there is no Amazon delivery, trash pickup, and no mail. Last night one of the neighbors took the contents of his garage freezer out to a dumpster he has access to. He graciously took our bag of spoiled meat. So, our current plan for waste management is to put the small stinky stuff in plastic grocery bags, and stuff them in the trash cans in front of businesses. Technically that's fly tipping. Civilization is breaking down.
We are so close to being in Level 2. They get trash pickup, don't know about mail. We are where the question mark is. The yellow is Level 2. That's a block and a half separating us.
This morning we walked up the big hill to see what we would see. We saw just how close we came to disaster. Two houses built up there had fire up to their perimeters. They're a different development, but are close to us. There was a beautiful house to the left of this house burned to the ground. It was deep into the trees, and was lost.
There are some tiny hot spots, but they're all surrounded by ash. There is not a lot of fuel left up there.
This is a fire break. They dig these by hand. The sheer physical labor involved with putting out fires is staggering. When the fire hits the bare dirt, it goes out. This works less well if it's really windy, and embers are being blown up the hill.
That's devastating. :( Although it must be good to be home, it sounds like it's complicated. My dad used to dig trenches as fire breaks when he worked for the Forest Service. It gave him a lifelong hatred of camping/roughing it. Hope you'll soon be in Level 2. I assume you have power back?
ReplyDeleteWe do have power, other wise we'd still be out of the house.
DeleteI think fly tipping is warranted given the circumstances. Glad you're safe.
ReplyDeleteThe devastation caused by the fire is shocking. The fire certainly moved fast. The land in your photos looks sad and barren.
ReplyDeleteHot spots are dangerous and we just hope nothing ignites.
Being back in your house must feel good and things will improve again when all the services come back.
Hang in there Allison and Jim. Things can only get better!
I agree with Pixie, you have to do what you have to do. I certainly you are soon in the 2 designated area soon. The devastation is awful - those folks who owned those two houses were very fortunate.
ReplyDeleteAnd, of course, the prices went up....capitalism at it's worst.
It must still be terrifying to see how close this came to you. Imagine living in one of those houses you pictured! I wouldn't feel bad about dealing with garbage in whatever way works. This is an extreme situation.
ReplyDeleteSorry life is not back to normal. I didn't think about garbage pickup, mail, etc. Hope it won't be too much longer. How is the air quality?
ReplyDeleteI honestly cannot imagine having a wild fire that close!
ReplyDeleteI imagine it will be a while before life goes back to normal.
How IS the AR quality.
*air quality.
ReplyDeleteit's not good, we're in the house, a lot.
DeletePrices going way up to exploit disaster area Residents should be a Crime. The worst of Capitalism Greed always raises it's ugly head during the hardest of times. Sorry that Life isn't even remotely close to back to Normal, it might not be for a while now? Knowing how narrowly you came to losing everything must be sobering and I cannot even imagine the Head Space you're in... or people who did lost everything. Do whatever you have to with the Garbage, you can't have spoiled foods for obvious health hazard and safety reasons associated with it and no telling when they will resume trash pickup or Mail Delivery... so you have to be creative about how you carry on until they do.
ReplyDeleteOne summer a decade or more ago Texas was in extreme drought, millions of trees died and millions more were burned from wildfire. It seemed so devastating but the national forest that burned around the Austin area started regenerating within a year. I'm glad your house is safe so far.
ReplyDelete