We got hit with a fire in the fall of 07. Had to evacuate with an hours notice. The fun part is what do you take, what do you leave. You can't take it all. We grabbed important documents, computer, guns, some clothes, meds, pet food for 4 critters. My wife finished buttoning up the house after I left. Lucky for me Hwy 78 was still open at that time, it closed about an hour after I left. The only other way out was Hwy 67 which went to the west which is the route she took as she went to work[ 911 dispatcher for Cal Fire]. She was able to get back in a day or so later to see the damage by flashing her badge so I had a pretty good idea what it looked like up there. When I was able to get back a week later, I put the critters back in our house the went exploring. War zone. We lived in a Modular Home park, think high digit mobile's, that was on 80 acres. Our existing house was fine other than debris being blown in due to very high winds from the fire. I went up to the old Turkey barn that I used for my shop and where my 70 Challenger was stored and it was all toast. There were 54 other residences there that burned down. Many evacuated too but there were some who just happened to be out of town at that time. I was very bummed about losing my car and all the pieces/parts I'd acquired over 30 years at that time but I felt very lucky as we still had a house to live in unlike many of our neighbors. We had lived in the section that burned down about 18 months before when we traded our old one in for a new one that was in an open field, so it could have been worse for us. I kept dragging my feet on moving the car and stuff out of the barn down to the new house and garage. Had plenty of room for it but some of the "treasures" were going to re-homed into the dumpster on the way. Shoulda woulda coulda. Since then I don't hoard parts beyond what I truly need. Since then we are always mindful of the winds, especially the Santa Ana ones which come in from the east and have very little humidity.
