h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It started because of the wind. An thin and elderly telephone pole went down well off the road and took Lincoln's electricity supply with it. Landlady and I confirmed that it wasn't just our own house, and I called in the outage to the electric co-op.

So when trucks started flying past a few minutes later I thought nothing of it except that the repair service was pretty good.

Three hours later, I've just come back from looking at the damage. The fire started under a quarter of a mile east of my place, behind Murray's house, where we can still see a few desultory flames, and came within fifty feet of his back door before veering east and racing up to the road side next to his driveway. It then went due east, driven by gusty winds. Tom and Sadie grabbed their dogs and fled, their property being right in the path of the wildfire. There still seems to be "activity" in the thickets of salt cedar immediately to the west of their home, but, apart from blackened pasture, all seems well. We don't know about the empty Caldwell house on the other side of the Bonito.

A slurry plane is circling overhead, and fighters are still on the scene, but the official word is that the fire is under control.

And the power is back on already. That repair service is pretty good.

As some of you know, I've had mobility problems lately, but I was making progress and gaining strength. Right up until Kevin burst in the door to announce the fire and advise me to evacuate a little further up the road. And suddenly I went so weak in the legs that even packing my laptop and carrying it to the car was out of the question. I'm pretty much OK now, but it was a sobering experience.

I'm watching out my back window as the slurry tanker follows the spotter plane to the hot spot. It's the second trip for the tanker and I can see a little red stuff dribbling from its cloaca. The winds of several minutes ago must have kicked something back to life.

Bloody hell, Lil.

Be safe.

That is awful. Like Ben said, stay safe.

Encouraging sign: a lot of crew have been driving home. The spotters are still circling, and there are probably some babysitters who will camp down there for the night, but there is actually some precipitation in the forecast, which is a small miracle.

I am greatly taken aback and consternated by the fact that my emotional state affected my physical condition, however.

Wow, lady! I'm glad to hear that the crews are moving so quickly, but I have to echo the "take care" statements made above.

Blimey. Under the circumstances I have to the news coverage you've put out here

A scary situation no doubt. You will get better, you have been being better, don't let one incident put you off Lil.

Stay safe

Glad you are ok Lil, but one question, Slurry Planes?
Do they drop poo on your fires there due to lack of water?

How awful. Both the fire and your physical reaction. Is the fire out or at least contained?

Lil, I know it's easy for us to say this since we aren't the ones going through it, but Phil is right. You are getting better. You're going to beat this thing.

How are you Lil? It's a tad unnerving to read the first few posts in this thread, and then de nada.

B

I've awoken to a calm cloudy morning, with evidence of some precip during the night and a pair of legs that are getting me around the house ok. But I'm going to call the local clinic this morning.

The slurry is a bright red fire retardant; I don't know what's in it, but it couldn't be organic, or it would be flammable!

Murray is going to totally freak when he gets back from AZ today and finds out how close he came to losing his house....

Good to hear that Lil.

B

Lil, did Tom and Sadie lose their house?

I'm relieved you're ok and doing better this morning.

I've just called round and the news is good. Tom and Sadie and house are all fine. The Caldwell house came closest to being destroyed. I just talked to one of the firefighters and he said the fire scorched the side of the house and blackened a propane tank next to the house which had him scared to death, but fortunately nothing else happened. Total damage was two sheds lost, one of Murray's and one of James'.

Glad you're safe, Lil! Glad the whole town seems to be.

>> blackened a propane tank next to the house



Thank goodness for arial slurry - you all seem to have had a close escape.

B

Again, wow, Lil! I'll echo the relief from everyone here - both about the lack of serious damage from the fire and the recovery of your legs.

I talked to Tom a little while ago -- he's a little hoarse from smoke -- and he says the fire came within a hundred feet of the greenhouse I babysit. There are still some stumps burning here and there, but the prison crew is on duty now. Regular firefighters didn't leave till 4 am.

And he has some extremely cool close-up pix, he says, of the slurry plane, which he's going to send me. I'll post them.

Extreeeemely cool pictures --
http://www.bonitovalley.com/journal/fire/dstfire01.htm

Sorry about rather primitive sequencing -- no "previous" buttons.