Fire Watch : Day 4 Update

 Another wild day. At night we can see a few flames

The fire increased from 2645 acres to 6390 overnight according to the Sunday morning report. By Sunday evening it had grown to 8971 acres with 0% containment and 245 crew members on site. 

Multiple aircraft were providing air support, but the increasing winds grounded them.

It's still a few miles from us, but we have to rely on phone alerts and neighboring ranching friends as it's impossible to gage what's taking place from our place. The canyons twist and turn and what the wind's doing here at the house is the complete opposite of how it's behaving in say, Copeland Canyon.

DH has been living on the skidsteer since we moved here. He's been trimming and cutting and grubbing trees and brush since day 1 and we did quite a bit more on Sunday. DH cut

and I hauled and stacked

And DH would scoop and dump

We were clearing a wider perimeter around the house.

I hated to lose so many trees, but it can't be helped when you live in the mountains and fire encroaches, you have to be practical.

Later, I soaked the wood supports and pillars on the deck. The rock is fine and the main part of the deck is composite.

Our son drove out about 9. The road between us and any town is closed so we didn't figure they'd let him through, but they did and we were very grateful for his help.

My knee was grateful too. I still hauled and stacked, but he moved twice as fast as I did. 

The other thing we're very grateful for is everyone's prayers...especially for the first responders on the front line. So thank you. The winds were not as wild as we were expecting, surprisingly we still have electricity, DH was able to get the horses out, and everyone is safe.

Today, higher winds are forecast, and we expect the fire to expand closer, but calmer weather is on the horizon. As tired as we are, I can't imagine how exhausted the folks on the front line are. They are all on the North end of the fire so I'm praying that means we're out of the woods for the moment, but we know it can change quickly.

The folks who have lived in this area all their lives and have experienced multiple fires say that the only thing that can put these fires out is rain and they will often burn for 30 days or more so here it is more about fire management than it is fire fighting. 

We'll continue to monitor the situation and are ready to pull out if conditions warrant we do so.

When I walked out on the deck first thing.in the morning, it certainly didn't look like fire was headed our way.