Monday August Sixth started out like any other day for me, Nothing different I woke up cuddled in bed with my Cats, Loki and Princess Thor; too a phone call from the Plumber I’d called on Friday evening saying he could come by now to fix the leak we had on our outdoor water spigot in the backyard. The worst part of that morning was the weird dream I had, about a Volcano erupting in the mountains behind my home. Nothing to really worry my head over, not in the least.
And then as the day progressed a message popped up on Facebook. “Where’s the Fire on The Ortega’s?” It asked. The Ortega’s being the mountains that surround my home. I went outside looking around, seeing nothing I thought it was further back in the Ortega’s then were I could see it and turned to go inside when I was greeted with a sight that terrified me to my very core.
My First View of The Holy Fire on Aug 6th 2018.
My Mountain was on Fire, Not the Ortega’s but the Mountain that was literally the one I hiked through with my dogs, the one I looked out the window at every morning. My Beautiful wild Mountain was on fire. I looked online that point trying to get an idea of how much danger I truly was in, to get the answer that Trabuco creek was the point of origin for the Fire, That was now being dubbed the Holy Fire.
A General idea of the distance between where the Fire started and where I live.
To give you an idea the Red dot, is my home, and the grey Dot is Trabuco Canyon where the Fire was started. This gives you a direct line of sight from where the fire started to where my home is. Terrifying in itself, but I was certain there was no way that fire could breach my mountains and come for my home. So we watched, and we waited closing out the 6th with this view.
The View on the Evening of Aug 6th
August 7th opened with my Roommates deciding to stay home just encase we were evacuated and with the fire having breached the Ridge behind my home. A Nerve wracking day followed, with us following the fire as closely as we possibly could and water air drops from Helicopters, and fixed winged aircraft. A noise we’d grown to love would soon become the stuff of nightmares. On Tuesday I took a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up refill on a prescription, and some groceries we needed for that night. The view from outside of my little culdasac was far more encouraging and far less terrifying.
Diamond Drive is the far side of town from my house.
The day Progressed and the winds changed again and the fire came roaring back up our ridge and was now as the sun set visible in my little canyon home. And by morning, I had a feeling in my guy that we would be leaving that day for safety reasons.
The View from my house’s Balcony on August 8th was down right terrifying, when I stood out there at 4am, I could not feel the heat, but I could hear the flames.
The View on the 8th From Our Balcony
By 9:30 AM we were under a Voluntary Evacuation order which meant, we could leave if we wanted to, but we didn’t have to. The fire was slowly beginning to creep down the hill now closer to our house, and outside was like standing in every end of the world movie I’d ever watched. By noon I’d brought cat carries into the house, and moved the car facing out of our driveway in prep for what I knew in my heart would soon be a Mandatory Evacuation. We gathered things we could not replace if the fire did reach our home, Photos, Jewelry of Value, Electronics that couldn’t be replaced easily, The quilt my Grandmother made me before she passed away, Pet food was loaded into the car, and the call out to my Roommates cousin saying that we were in Pre-Evacuation status and would be ready to go soon.
The View Just hours before we Evacuated.
The most amusing thing in the world to me here was that, despite the terror of how close this fire was coming, how much danger we all were in, the garbage truck still came through our neighborhood and collected trash that day. I actually laughed at that even when the world looked to be about to end.
at 2 O’Clock the Mandatory Evacuation order we’d all been hoping wouldn’t come was pushed through and a short time later my Roommates cousin came over and we loaded our personal belongings and my roomies mom into her vehicle, then the dogs and four cats into our car and left our home for what may have been the very last time.
After leaving our babies behind at the Local Animal shelter (They were being sheltered there not given up) We headed about 20 miles away to take shelter ourselves at The Room Mates Cousin’s house.
The View of the Fire from The Cousin’s Front Yard.
At that point it was just wait and see……
The Glow of The Holy Fire from Menifee Ca.
August 9th 2018 the smoke to us out in Menifee seemed less but we could of been wrong, as an update from our neighbor said it was still simmering at the top of the ridge, and so we waited holding our breaths. Waiting to see what would come today, would the fire finally break the ridge and race down the Canyon into our backyards? We wouldn’t know til about 4:40 PM.
Photo taken by Mark Rightmire during the Holy Fire in Lake Elsinore near Crystal Ridge in the McVicker Park Area.
At about 2PM on Aug 9th one of the neighbors who opted to stay behind called me, and said he was a bit nervous as the fire had breached the ridge and was starting to come down. He said they were making drops, but he was nervous. We left and made our way out to pick up a few things, by the time we returned home, the neighbor was calling again with the words we had hoped not hear. The fire was coming and he was leaving.
These are 747’s Fighting the Holy Fire above Rice Canyon and McVicker Canyon on Aug 9th 2018 Amazing Flying Skills.
We figured that was it, the end the next call we would get would be people telling us our home was gone. Several people on Facebook were posting video’s from the street behind us, and the fire was burning at there fence line. And then a miracle happened about 20 minutes after the first call, our neighbor called again and said. “I’m home, the fire’s gone…”
With in 20 minutes the Firemen managed to put the fire out in our little canyon and not a home was lost. All that burned in my Canyon was grass and sage brush, and a few trees, no homes. No property damage nothing, it was…safe.
After that, the fire moved off east of us, towards the Ortega Hwy and thousands of other homes. But our home was safe…..
Over night the fire burned up into the Mountains again and down into the Temescul Canyon area, and as of right now is only 60% Contained, and has burned almost 20K Acres. Aug 10th was spent clearing hotspots and making sure it was safe to allow us in the Rice Canyon/McVicker Canyon area to go home.
On Sat Aug 11th we were allowed to go home, to a world changed,
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
All of this because one crazy man decided that his neighbor was the enemy, and that his neighbor needed to loose everything. This man better not get an insanity plea! Too much was almost LOST because of this MAN!
Surviving The Holy Fire. Monday August Sixth started out like any other day for me, Nothing different I woke up cuddled in bed with my Cats, Loki and Princess Thor; too a phone call from the Plumber I'd called on Friday evening saying he could come by now to fix the leak we had on our outdoor water spigot in the backyard.
