Evacuated and Safe

Okay, now I'm chuckling at that last fire post. I totally thought we were safe because the fire was on the opposite side of the I-15 freeway from us last night. The Chief left for work at 6am this morning and literally 1 minute after he pulled away, a ward member called us to let us know that a mandatory evacuation had been issued for our area. The fire had jumped the freeway and was heading our way. I called The Chief, he came home, and we went to work collecting our important identification papers and photo albums. He even unhooked our computer tower to take with us. We packed up a few changes of clothing, grabbed some diapers and blankets and headed out. We waited 20 minutes in a line to get gas and then got on the 56 freeway heading West to the 5 freeway. That drive normally takes all of five minutes, but since 250,000 people were being evacuated, it took us 1 and 1/2 hours to get to I-5. We then traveled to T and T's house (The Chief's brother and sister-in-law) in Laguna Niguel (Orange County). We left our house at 9am and got there at 12noon. That's a one and a half hour drive normally. Anyway, Trina made us a wonderful breakfast meal since we hadn't eaten yet, and then we continued on to Aunt Sooz's house in Huntington Beach. This is where we're hunkering down until they tell us we can come back. The fire threatening our home is called the Witch Fire and it had jumped the 15 freeway in Rancho Bernardo. Many homes have burned. We are directly south of Rancho Bernardo. We've been glued to the radio and TV. We listen to San Diego's fire news at an online radio station and we watch Orange County's many fires on the TV. I seriously feel like all Hell has broken loose in Southern California. Malibu is also burning. There are 13 fires burning throughout Southern California, eight of those are in San Diego. Maybe some have been contained, but all we're hearing now is 0% contained, 0% contained, 0% contained. They just can't keep ahead of the fires because of the Santa Ana's. We've been feeling okay all day because the winds were driving the Witch Fire in a NW direction, but recently we heard that the winds have shifted to the SW, so we're still praying and still waiting. They're saying it will probably be 24 hours before they can start containing the fire. Anyway, this is probably more than anyone cares to know, but it's so crazy to me. I was telling my family today that as we drove away through our neighborhood we saw little clusters of neighbors talking, pointing, watching. Some were hosing down their property and turning on their sprinklers in a last ditch effort against the raging fire. And everywhere people were packing up their cars and closing up their homes. I felt like I was watching a movie - it was so surreal. I can't believe this is actually happening to us! Well, I'd better rescue Aunt Sooz from the overactive munchkin. :) We're safe...for all who might care to know. :)