We have one!
Yorba Linda made the national news Saturday, when a fire came blowing in from Corona. The media eventually named it the Freeway Complex Fire. It has burned 23,722 acres of land and destroyed or damaged 211 homes.
The burn area came within about 5 or 6 miles of the Poochie Williamson residence. That's just a little too close for comfort. We were not asked to evacuate our home, but on Saturday, it looked like we might have to go. The place looked like a scene from operation Desert Storm. We could see flames to the east, and a red halo of flames to the north. The smoke was so thick it nearly blotted out the afternoon sun. What little light we had was an eerie brownish yellow color.
We packed up 3 car loads of paintings, prints, collectables, photographs, prescriptions and vitamins, dog food, leashes, clothing, etc. Sometimes there were hard choices between 'take it' and 'leave it.' Heather & Josh took one car load for us, Amber and Ron took a second, and I put the rest of the stuff in our Maxima. I saw several other families in the neighborhood packing too, but many did not bother to. We knew, though, that if things got bad we could be on the road in a few minutes and many of the most treasured and irreplaceable of our possessions would be safe in nearby Fullerton.
Bonnie and I alternated shifts during the night watching the TV coverage for word of any change.
But we did not have to evacuate. The wind shifted Sunday morning, and the fire headed way north and west of us. Our skies were sunny and clear nearly all day. I unloaded the Maxima Sunday afternoon. The evacuation orders for Yorba Linda were lifted Sunday evening. Heather and Amber brought our stuff back today, and Bonnie and I have nearly everything put back in place.
The fire is about 30% "contained," but is still burning. I expect it will take the firefighters a week or more to extinguish it.
Packing and unpacking the valuables was an ordeal, but when we hear how much was lost by those who had to leave in a hurry we are glad we did it.
