Fires in Pikermi

Yesterday started with a rude awakening when our landlord called us at 5:45 am and told us to prepare to evacuate. We looked out our balcony and the sky was red around us with fires. I was struggling to figure out what to bring, what to leave, what would burn etc. A frantic call to Missy and Paul (whose house burned to the ground a few years ago) for any advice. Not sure it helped, Mis said bring everything and Mike was wanting me to just pack a few things and get out!

We finally got everything packed up and I had learned on facebook that some friends of ours had been evacuated down to the bible school so I drove over there to get more info. It is so hard to watch the news with your town listed on it and not know what they are saying about it. The people at the bible school were a big help and assured me that things would probably be ok here from what they heard on the news. One family had left their house on the mountain at 3 am and had just come back from observing it, and praise the Lord, they said it looked like the fire just jumped their house. All was black around them, but their house was in tack. The mop on the balcony was melted and there was a turtle burrowed into the ground but the house and the propane tank outside it were both fine.

Today, we thought the worst was past but when we got up this morning the skies were full of smoke again and the fires were closer than yesterday. We "evacuated" twice down to the bible school and were so grateful for friends there who could communicate to us in English what was happening. Today the winds have been very strong and shifting. The fires came very close to the bible school and our house, within 4 blocks we think.

Thank goodness, we think the worst is over. The planes seem to have put out the fires by us and we are taking a deep breath.

We will be in touch later. We thank God that we are safe and are concerned for so many others that are not.

Thanks so much for all your prayers. Please keep praying for this country.