Too Close to Home

September 14, 2011, turned out to be a hectic day to say the least.  There was a fire close to our home and we were both at work. Sometime during the morning I talked with our neighbor Susan Bower.  Luckily her husband John was home this day and would keep at eye on everything for us.  Firetrucks were already in the area and John was talking with the Fire Marshall.  So we would stay calm and only come home if John told us we needed to. 

A little later, Carey got a phone call from a friend asking about it, I started receiving text messages and wasn't too sure I shouldn't be concerned!  But, I had a hair appointment at noon!  Even the stylist asked me if I needed to go home, but I assured her everything was fine and they would call me if I needed to leave - take care of these roots please!  Of course as she's applying the color, I get a phone call from Susan telling me that she's going home - YIKES!  Now I'm a little nervous.  They live at the top of the hill from us!  I send Carey a text telling him Susan's going home and he should go home.  In the meantime, our other neighbors directly across from us, the Allison's, call to let me know what's going on.  Mr.Allison is such a sweet man and he was so calm - it made me more nervous!  But I'm stuck under the dryer with bleach and foil in my hair!  I tell Kelly, the stylist, "maybe we should rinse!"  Carey has since made it home and he's telling me that the tanker plane is dropping the orange retardant, there is a spotter plane and two helicopters are dropping water.

By this time Taylor has been told to go home and get Gus and throw some things in the truck.  She has her friend Marissa with her (thank goodness), because she loses it when the road is blocked and they won't let her in.  I call our friend, JP Steelman, who just happens to be the Longview Fire Chief, for the magic password to get in when the roads are blocked - FYI there is no such password :(  Now that I know our roads are blocked and that I probably wouldn't be able to get through, I tell Kelly to go ahead and cut my hair.  I passed on the styling part!  I know she was talking about me when I left - "can you believe my last client's neighborhood was on fire and she wouldn't leave?"  I told her when I was interviewed on television, I would say "hair by Kelly!" 

The officer finally tells Taylor to try the other way and luckily that officer let her through (I think the tears and "my daddy's waiting on me to help pack," had something to do with it!  She and Marissa are able to help Carey throw some clothes in the car.  This is Taylor's Facebook  post about Carey's packing:

"So the road to my house is blocked off because of the fires.. I finally get through it to my house and daddy is outside and the first thing he says is "I got all your important stuff in my truck and I got the Uggs!" He was totally serious. Glad my Uggs will be okay if the rest of my stuff burns up."

The fire was put out and we even had a small rain shower!  We watched the helicopters continue to drop water for hours after we were all home.  And we're so thankful for dear friends and family that came to check on us and see if we needed help packing:  Mike Hill, Jenny Whitman, Aunt Queenie and Andy Loy!

(we don't live in East Mountain, but are about 4 miles east of it)

From KLTV's website:

UPDATE 3:45 PM: Burnam and Fullar road were both evacuated earlier Wednesday afternoon after a 110 acre fire swept through the East Mountain area. Those roads are now re-opening along with FM 1844.

Authorities say the fire is about 85 percent contained at this point. Six fire departments, four dozers, two helicopters and two tanker planes all responded to the fire that fortunately only destroyed one shed.

No injuries have been reported at this time. The Red Cross is on the scene assisting firefighters.

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UPDATE 3:30 p.m. Authorities have confirmed evacuations are taking place in the area. We have a reporter on the scene. Detailed information coming soon.

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UPDATE 09/14 2:35pm: Westbound traffic on FM 1844 shut down at Hamby Road. Eastbound traffic on FM 1844 shut down at Hwy 300.

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EAST MOUNTAIN, TX (KLTV) - A large fire has been burning through a wooded area near the Gregg/Upshur County line since early Wednesday morning.

Around 7:00 am, a smoke plume was spotted on the horizon and crews from the Glenwood, East Mountain and Judson Metro Fire Departments responded to the scene of the fire on a lease property on North Fuller Road about a mile north of FM 1844.

Two Texas Forest Service plows have been brought in to cut fire breaks. So far 20 to 25 acres have burned. The wind is picking up and crews are worried about containing the fire before it jumps to another area.

There are no structures or homes in danger at this time.

The fire can be seen from our roof cam at our Longview Bureau near downtown Longview, seven miles south of this fire.

 

Our clothes, pictures and other important, sentimental, can't live without items stayed in our vehicles for a few days.  Very glad that the fire didn't get out of hand and so thankful for ALL fire departments!

The First Fires

On September 5, Carey, Brooklyn and I decided to drive around and see how bad the fires were.  Little did we know that things were about to get alot worse.  Pictures of the fire damage closest to us at the time:

White Oak Rd., close to East Mountain

A little later we saw a plume of smoke and thought it looked close our friend's house, Darrel and Elba Moseley.  And it was!  We found out that they had been fighting that fire all weekend and it came within 10 feet of their house.  We couldn't go down their road since it was blocked off.  Thankfully, they were able to get it out and their home was saved - thanks to many volunteers and the New Diana Volunteer Fire Department.  We were able to celebrate Darrel's 50th birthday the next weekend and were able to see first hand how close it came.  Very scary.