Oklahoma Fires

[okmulch]

Well last Friday we had to evacuate our house and property. My wife was in Oklahoma City at our facility there and my youngest was at school.  My oldest son and I were at the house and smoke was rolling in when the notices to evacuate came in. We loaded the dogs in his truck and I grab a few essential items, loaded the beep on trailer and we headed to out.  My youngest was released from school and my wife was almost home so we all met up at Walmart. The first pic is looking from Walmart parking lot toward where our house is. 
We had over 60 mph gusts all day. 
We ended up going to a friends house that night and watching and praying. All did not look good at all. We were preparing for the worse and it looked like there was no way our house would survive. The next morning we came back and our house was still here, not even a burnt patch of grass. Unfortunately 25 of our neighbors lost everything. Well over half the houses in our neighborhood. To say it's a miracle is an understatement and it's extremely hard  to be happy when most in our neighborhood lost everything.  We thank God and the many prayers.

We were able to move back in the house that afternoon. We still had water and natural gas to cook and clean with and generators to keep freezers and refrigerators running. Power came back on that night around 10:00 being we are on a separate line along with the 2 other houses that survived on our cul de sac.

The last couple days have been up and down due to extreme winds and dry vegetations and low humidity. There are fires everyday in Oklahoma somewhere and yesterday and today are again not looking great.

Hopefully this weekend we can get a little rain and the winds will calm down tomorrow.



This is a pic of the ash that was all over our patio and house and everywhere.


Last pic is of one of the 25 hoses gone.

[Jim_Rogers]

We're all glad your house did not burn down.

Good luck with everything in your area.

Jim Rogers

[Raider Bill]

25 families woke up, went to work, plans for the future. Couple hours later every things gone.

[barbender]

Dang it. Sorry to hear about all of your neighbors' homes. 

[aigheadish]

Yikes, Aaron, glad y'all are ok!

[Stephen1]

So close. We are all glad you and your family are okay.  A horribly tragedy for your neighbours. 

[doc henderson]

here are some pics I think I posted a few on the weather thread.  We went there for a friend's birthday.  got evacuated. snuck into town to eat.  slept in cars till we were let back in about 1:30 am.












Mike sent me a video and I cannot post it, but a whole trailer campground was burned less than half a mile from there house.

[okmulch]

Yes Doc you are correct. Where Mike lives is just east of lake Carl Blackwell which is run by Oklahoma State University. There are several reasons around the lake that have permanent trailers that people own. They were all lost. Several years ago most of the cedar trees were cut around that lake and we did the grinding and removal of them, if they would have still been there it could have been worse iif that is even possible.  This was a separate fire that went through there, but is within miles of the one that went through our neighborhood.  There were so many in the state that day that resources couldn't keep up.  Planes and helicopters couldn't fly to dump water due to the over 60 mph winds. 

[customsawyer]

Tough times for lots of folks out that way. Glad your place was spared.

[Magicman]

I was glad to read that you and your family "dodged the bullet" on that possible tragedy Aaron.  Sad for the others. 

[barbender]

There have been so many of these high wind driven fires this last year. About all you can do in most situations is run and get out of the way.

[SwampDonkey]

Wow. Someone was definitely looking out for you and your property in that fire. It must have been a dry winter down there. I know most snow storms up here were insignificant except 1. This is the end of the 3rd week of March and it's getting pretty bare here. We have not had any wildly high temps yet, thank goodness. The ice has left any free flowing rivers here, head ponds have ice.