California Family Members

And the news has only shown you the really big fires. There have been a half dozen around me just in the last few days. Sp far they were contained quickly with no loss of life or homes. They don't count 'out' buildings, like storage sheds, barns, garages or, gasp, shops!

Humidity is below 15% and winds are kicking up to 25-30 miles per hour. We have been very lucky thus far this year around me, but it is worrisome. For others, it is devastating.
 
I know several families that are evacuated. One of them just posted this morning she lost her house (we used to work with her in San Francisco). A friend's aunt also lost her house. And both said, despite losing everything...get your family pics up to the cloud. They lost all, but friends who have copies of pics or took them themselves will be helping to rebuild the memories. It's very devastating. I was about to dismantle our fire "go-kits" for the year, but won't do so till Nov or Dec.
 
I often wonder why people live where they know twisters or floods or hurricanes will regularly occur. Yet here I sit where the ground moves and the area catches fire every year ;-) Fires don't catch the world's attention like large storms but, people still face tragedy in the moment and in the aftermath. This year has been significant, that's for sure.
 
It's so sad to hear some of the stories. One positive one was a 65 year old woman and her 70 year old husband, who lived up in the hills, were trapped with no way out (the only road out was on fire). They remembered their neighbor, a third of a mile away, had a swimming pool. The neighbors had already evacuated, so they broke into the back yard, waited as long as they could, then jumped in (this was shortly after midnight). Very cold water, but they stayed there for over six hours until everything around them burned down and melted their shoes and cell phones that they left on the deck. They had to keep dunking under water and use wet T-shirts to shield their faces from the embers. Talk about having your wits around you and perseverence. Otherwise they would have been among those who have sadly perished
 
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