Heartbreaking Drives in Yorba Linda: Sun Evening & Mon Morning

(Above: Just before sunset Sunday evening. Notice the color of the sun--a deep red. In the foreground--oil derriks from the old 76 Union Oilfield near my home. None blew up, thank God!)

Sunday evening, we took a drive around town just after the evacuations were lifted. Some of the canyons and parts of the nearby freeways were still closed. Here are some pictures I managed to shoot. I know some are not too clear because I took the pictures as we were driving by.

(Above: The entrance to Carbon Canyon. About a mile from my home. The firefighters were still working away.)

(These are true heroes!) (Below, at nightfall, Carbon Canyon was still closed. This was the entrance.)

One of the members of our church congregation was still at his home clearing brush and trees. Sunday afternoon the flames were getting close and he called from his ham radio for help. My husband and another church leader went into the canyon to help him. They had a producer from FoxNews--who had a media pass--with them. If you have a media pass you can get past road blocks. They were able to help the family save their home.

These are pictures I took this morning as I drove through Yorba Linda.

(Below: The hills up to these homes are blackened. The homes are miraculously still intact.)

(Below: This homeowner was not so lucky. It broke my heart to see the man who lives there rolling out his garbages to the curb for tomorrow morning's pickup. The homes of his neighbors on either side of him were unscathed.)

(Below: The people on this hilltop are looking down at the terrible devastation. All that's left is their chimney.)

(The fire "hopscotched" through the neighborhoods--burning one home and not touching another. As you see below, this was all that was left of one home.)

(Below, is a home left in rubble. Their neighbor is one of my dear quilting friends, Sally. I called her today to check on her. She sustained roof damage, but she and her family are safe and sound. Her son stayed all night hosing down their home. Their neighbor's home could not be saved. She said even though she was able to return to her home, she felt it wasn't safe and the fumes are very strong. As you can see, the news media was there interviewing the neighbors.)

(Below: A shot of the fence along the horse trails in the area. Notice how the heat produced cracks in the wood.)

(Below is one entrance to the Chino Hills State Park that borders Yorba Linda. When my children were little, we would go on hikes there. This is what is looked like this morning.)

(Below you can see the path my kids and I used to walk on. In the bottom right hand corner the sign marker says: EASY)

(Notice what looks like red "paint" in the pictures below? That's "flame retardant" sprayed on the area by a DC-10.)

(I'm sure the flame retardant saved this home. You can see it "painting" their garage door. The fire was very close to this neighborhood.)

(This family was hosing down their yard to try and remove the flame retardant. I asked them if it was difficult to remove. They said, "A little, but we are just grateful we are not sifting through rubble!)

(Final shots below: The smoke in the air this morning. All of the schools shut down today because of poor air quality...this if view looking east from Bastanchury hill near my home.)

(Below is a view of Catalina Island in the distance...from the Summit House restaurant not far from my home. You would think that brown air was smog, but that is thick smoke leftover from the weekend.)

Lessons learned from all this: be prepared, be prepared and be prepared! My sister writes a very informative blog about preparedness. Visit it here: PreparedLDSFamily. I need to follow her example!

Yorba Linda Burning

Just a quick post to let friends and family know that we're fine. I don't know how many of you have heard about the fires here in Yorba Linda, California. They are not far from my home. (The picture above is from yesterday, looking east at about noon.)

The fires began yesterday morning. I was teaching a freemotion machine quilting class at Cranberry Quiltworks. My husband was involved in an earthquake drill with Church members, just hours before the fire broke out. A lucky coincidence!

One of the girls at Cranberry got a phone call at about 11am and left immediately as the fire was on her street in East Yorba Linda. I was not even aware that there was a fire and then I looked out the window to the north of us and could see the billowing smoke. Then I looked the east and there was smoke there too. I decided to cut the quilting class short so my students could get on the freeways and head home before they shut them down. Sure enough two freeways were closed just a few hours later.

I went home. My husband, as an amateur ham radio operator, was able to get in contact with many of the church members in our area. There are many ham radio operators in this area in prepartion for earthquakes. We have learned during earthquakes that the land-line phones go out, as well as cell phones. Now we've learned that ham radios are a great resource during this kind of disaster too!

We have been surrounded by these two fires to the east and to the north of us. About a mile away, a mobile home park (Lake Park) was evacuated, but not our neighborhood. I have things packed and ready, just in case we need to leave though. Daughter #2 and her husband had to evacuate from their apartment. They could see the flames! The fire was so close to them and a mandatory evacuation was imposed. Luckily, their complex did not sustain any damage.

One of our church buildings was used as an evacuation center. One of the bishops (pastor) on the east side of town lost his home. Such a heartache, but he and his family are safe. Many other church members and friends who live in that area sustained some damage to their homes, but miraculously their homes were spared.

(Above: Looking east from my home.)

(Above: Looking from the inside to the southwest from my front windows.)

(Above: Looking to the west at the smoke from one of the fires only a few hours after it started.)

(Above: Looking to the east from my backyard.)
(Above: Looking to the south from our home.)

Today (Sun) we are still glued to the television and monitoring the situation, but the winds have calmed down and they are getting control of the fire. It seems to be concentrated in the town of Diamond Bar now. Altogether, these fires have burned many thousands of acres in LA County, Orange County, and Riverside County. 22,000 people have been evacuated and 180 homes have been seriously damage or destroyed.

Living in earthquake country, we try to be prepared. I am glad those same drills and preparation has helped with this disaster. You never know what disasters will hit. I am so grateful for my husband and his willingness to help others. He has really been involved in helping and accounting for all the church members in this area. And my BabyBoy has been such a help too! It has also taught us to always be prepared...for anything!

I will try and update you again soon. Take care.