Here we go again... more fires in our area

I woke up this morning to look out the bathroom window and found a huge plume of smoke in the sky to the east of us. Fear gripped me as the winds are super gusty and blowing in a south-westerly direction, then I look out the window facing the city (south) and found the city shrowded in a dark cloud of smoke as far as the eye can see. This is not looking good. Alan hopped in the truck and took a drive over towards Valley Center to assess the situation and found out the fire that is our worst concern is out in the San Pasqual Valley out past our beloved Wild Animal Park. It is a huge fire (currently 10,000+ acres with 0% containment). There are several other big fires that are affecting so many of our local San Diego communities and we have a few friends that have had to evacuate already – please pray for them! We seem to be okay for the moment but have packed up the important things and are ready to leave when the call comes to evacuate.

The last time the fires threatened our house back in Oct 2003, it was a different kind of fear – one for our animals, our house, our business. Added to that was having to come all the way home from our family cabin in the desert to find our town looking like a deserted ghost town – very eerie! This time the fear is different because of Megan. I fear the ramifications of potential displacement should our house be lost and how Megan will handle it. How do you explain to a 2-1/2 year old about a fire and that her home is gone and all her favorite toys are lost (those are important things to her at this age). So here we sit with Megan watching her favorite movie (The Sound of Music) and Alan and I sitting at our computers keeping a close eye out the windows for any changes.

Hopefully my next post will be that the danger has passed and all is well with us as well as our friends.