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Fire!
12:22 A.M. Loud rapid knocking on the front door. Randy says "Get up. Get dressed, there's a roaring wide fire coming toward us!. Randy and Harvey were running around banging on doors Looked out side and the sky was glowing red. Went over to the frence and there were Jerry and Joyce Ewing gazing over the fence. I climbed up to look and it looked awesome! Flames were 40ft high and were be blown very fast by the wind. What a site! Soon there were others scurring about...."better get some things and get the hell outta here" was overheard. Took Laura's Mercury down and parked it by the wash rack to get it as far away from the possibly oncoming disaster. Hastly hooked up connections to the travel trailer and had to turn it around in the dark with all kind of folks trying to get by me. Luckily I didn't back into anything in the dark. Was an obstacle course trying to avoid all the other folks and the numerous fire trucks as the emergency response folks were trying to make sure everyone was getting out. Evacuate! Evacuate! I wonder has it reached the fence yet?, Made it to the park exit and found a logjam there. Took a while but finally got on the hiway and headed toward Parker Dam. Parked along the road about a mile and a half down the road. Many of the residents gathered there as time passed and listened to talk about "What if" and "what did you think of taking with you"? I was tired from working in the heat all day and just wanted to sleep and figured "Que Sera, sera". Drove down to the BLM Rock House Day Use area, parked and went to bed in the RV. When we returned in the morning, all was well. Just a lot of ash on the ground and fire trucks still on vigil watch. Just a normal night in the Palms... UPDATE This morning they are fighting the fire with helicopter water drops. Tried to go to Parker but the road was closed. At 12:15 there are about 9 Hot Shot fire trucks standing by with full crew on the road next to the park. They are afraid the wind might get up. |
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