A Bit Too Close For Comfort

Fire! Fire! Where is the fire?! That was the big question at noon yesterday. I went to pick up the boys from school and once I got out of my car, I immediately smelled smoke. I turned around to face the parking lot and saw that a hill near the golf course was on fire. There was a big plume of smoke but from where I was standing I couldn't tell whether or not it was near our house. I called my neighbor who is a fire fighter and asked him if he saw the fire. Yep, he saw it but it wasn't too close to our house. It was on the north side of the golf course and we are on the south side of the golf course. Whew! (or so I thought)

I got the boys in the car and was telling them where I thought the fire was. I said "The fire is over by the park I take you to". The next thing I heard was Grant yelling "Our park is on fire!" I chuckled and assured him that the park wasn't on fire. We drove over to the other side of the golf course to see where it was and there was a lot of smoke. I couldn't see any fire because at that time it was on the other side of the hill. We went home and turned the tv on and I kept my eyes glued out the window to our backyard. At times it seemed that it was going to be put out quickly but just as I said that to myself, I would see another big black plume of smoke. I was on the phone with my friend who was on the phone with her husband (the fire fighter) getting the details of what was going on. I was assured that it wasn't likely that the fire would get to our house but it was pretty scary seeing flames shooting up off the hill behind your house! Watching the fire was pretty nerve racking but it was also pretty awesome to watch the fire fighting efforts. These planes and helicopters flying so low that you think you can touch them. It was amazing.

The fire had initially started on the north side of the golf course and then moved it's way to the south side where we live. There are two hills we can see from our backyard and both of them were on fire. The wind kept pushing the fire south and last I heard, no homes or structures where burned. After dinner we walked up to the end of the cul-de-sac to see what was going on up there. There were 2 fire trucks, a sheriff and 2 Channel 7 news vans covering the fire. We watched the helicopters dropping water on the hot spots on the hill. It was pretty cool!

So that was the excitement for the day! Here are some pictures and 2 videos from the day.