Yesterday at 4pm, an Anaheim Hills policeman knocked at our door and told us there was a mandatory evacuation. Earlier, my neighbors had been suspecting we may have to leave the area because of the close proximity to the smoke and fire. They even told me to start packing even before the notification was made. We started packing something light, but we were still assuming we won’t get evacuated. It wasn’t until the actual order was made that we started to worry. My wife was pretty upset about it. I had to do what I could to keep the family safe. We packed our important papers like passports or birth certificates, my laptop, some print photos, and a handful of clothes.
We went out to my neighbor’s sister’s place in Irvine. We had dinner and hung out for a while. Due to the lack of space in the apartment, we decided to move to our friend’s place in Orange Hill. They were very kind to provide a room with a king-size bed to sleep on. We were blessed to have been welcomed by our friends. We thanked all of them!
We returned today around 11am. The sky has cleared and smoke was nowhere near my neighborhood. The air still smells bad, but much more breathable than yesterday. I did a quick check around the house and it’s still in one piece. Nothing burnt. Nothing stolen. We’re still counting our blessings.
This experience taught that we have to be much more prepared for an evacuation. That means knowing what to pack and do it in less time. All of the print photos and documents must be scanned and stored online, and elsewhere. We need a bigger fire-proof safe. Stay connected and informed. Lastly, we need to stay more relaxed, to avoid the stress of an already trying day.
Tags: anaheim hills, brush fire, smoke
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hi Rudy,
Glad to hear you’re ok. We had to get ready to evacuate earlier this year because of the Gap fire, but the order never came through. It is very sobering. Then this latest series of fires started up here in SB with the Tea fire, and a house we used to live in was about 5 houses away from one that burned down. These fires are a real wake up call. Again, I’m glad you and your family are ok, and I really feel for those families that have lost their houses.
By the way, if you have the time and you’re a social networking type, would you read my latest post and see if you can plug Will’s article? Thanks.
~ Steve (aka the trade show guru)
PS. Your blog still crashes in IE6 so I’m using Firefox via my laptop. I may be the last person on earth using IE6. Just wanted to let you know.
Trade Show Guru´s last blog post..Please help Will
Hey Steve,
The fire was never this close to my house before. It usually stays well east of Toll Road 241 and south of I-91. The Santa Ana winds usually blow south too, but for the past few days it was blowing northeast more. Very freaky.
Seeing the fire and smoke up close were terrifying. What comforted me during this ordeal was seeing the large contingent of fire trucks and water-dropping helicopters. Kudos to the LAFD and OCFD!
Rudy, I’m glad you and your family are alright. I’ve never been up close and personal to a fire and I hope I never do. I can only imagine how frightening it would be. It’s wonderful that there were people who offered your family a place to stay while you waited things out, and I’m sure it’s a great relief to know everything at your home was fine and nothing stolen. Hearing reports of people stealing people’s belongings during a crisis really ticks me off.
@Steve, I have also found that Rudy’s blog and others as well tend to crash with IE. We have IE at work, so I have to be really careful which blog sites I visit when I’m at work. On Firefox I have no problems.
Lin Burress @ Telling It Like It Is´s last blog post..Guy Finley: The Secret of Letting Go
Great that you had a good time with your friends. Sudden evacuation is really messy, but you seem to have a pretty reasonable time!
Thanks, Lin. The looting reports really makes me mad too. Talk about spineless and heartless. I heard people as far as LA drive to OC just to steal things. Unbelievable.
@mariano: Even though we had ample time, the problem was the smoke started to get in the house. So we had to go sooner for our safety.
[…] Steve and Lin have reported my site crashed their Internet Explorer 6 browsers. I’ve tested it using a Windows 2000 machine at work, and confirmed it. I’ve been trying to figure out which plugin or sidebar widget does this. I found the Lightbox 2 plugin was the problem. I really like this plugin, but not enough to lock out my readers who are still stuck with IE6. I’ll find an alternative. […]
So glad to hear you guys are ok!
What a nightmare to have had to go through 🙁
Thanks Reggy.
Looking back, would I rather trade the fire for the snow in Toronto? Hmm! Same nightmare, I think.
I dunno… fire seems to destroy more and faster than snow can!
fragileheart´s last blog post..When you’re spent
Is there insurance for damage due to snow? Or is that covered under “flood”?