One of the projected novels in my series located in Central Texas features a long hot summer. Guess this one will do! We've had, I believe, over a hundred days this summer of temps over 100 degrees. A couple of days in Bastrop reached 112 F. On Labor Day weekend things got critical. We got a welcome north wind that felt wonderful and dropped temps a bit, however it also dropped the humidity. The winds were very gusty and apparently a limb broke against some electric wires over in the Circle D neighborhood a bit east of us. A fire started and spread rapidly.
Cat and I were in Austin, Cat was reading tarot at Ancient Mysteries, I was working at our landlady's house. Silas and Michael were working at the booth in Sherwood Forest. The first reports of the fire that we heard concerned another of the personnel at Sherwood whose house burned down, then we were getting reports from the guys that the fire was spreading. We left Austin and headed back to Bastrop.
The smoke was already visible as we left Austin. The roiling clouds of smoke were awesome and looked really close to where we live. When we finally got home the smoke was still east of us and moving south.
It didn't look to be spreading in our direction, but before long the Sheriff's department came through our neighborhood and told us to get out.
We left, not knowing for sure where we would go. The deputy had told us of a couple of shelters being set up, but that didn't appeal to us. We had all four of our cats, our pickup, car, and my motorcycle. Silas went on and returned to Sugarland. We agreed to meet up at the Bastrop Public Library, then decided to go into Austin to our friend Amanda's house. She had a vacation rental that was vacant and she offered it to us.
There we were, evacuating EarthSong Retreat, our new home, and on our way to Austin, not knowing if we would lose everything or not. As an added incongruity, Cat witnessed a motorist tossing a lit cigarette out of a window onto the pavement, sparks flying. It made her very angry, as it did me when she told me about it later. What an IDIOT! In the next couple of days fires broke out all around Austin and another in Bastrop. Some of those fires were accidental, others were apparently arson. In the midst of all of this, other instances of smokers tossing lit cigarettes out of windows were witnessed by friends. The stupidity was mind boggling.
Amanda and her family welcomed us to their home and rental unit, we moved in and started the wait. It was very comfortable, a beautiful place just off of Barton Springs and Zilker Park in Austin.
We used the wifi to follow the news and updates on the fire. More and more people were pouring into the evacuee shelters in Bastrop, making us glad that we had come on into Austin. It took us several days to get through the busy phone lines and register ourselves as evacuees so that we might be notified of changes.
More and more businesses in Bastrop and Austin were helping out the folks who were waiting. We were treated to a free dinner at La Fonda San Miguel in Austin, free to evacuees. It was a fabulous meal, in a place we would normally dress up to go to. The staff was wonderful, the food was great, and they offered us the full menu. Our server, David, had been an evacuee from Hurricane Katrina. That meal was such a bright spot in a dreary waiting game! We were also constantly getting calls and messages from friends and relatives who were checking on us. That meant a lot as well!
We were constantly watching updates and monitoring the Bastrop County Office of Emergency Services page on Facebook for news. KXAN News was a good source, as were the Facebook pages of "Texas Storm Chasers" and "We Are Okay in Bastrop", and others. Several pages had sprung up on Facebook for groups monitoring the fire, most had some good information. A lot of it was also on Twitter.
Finally, on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011, the news came out that folks in some areas were being allowed to re-enter. Ours was one of those areas. Another good friend, Maria, and her family, who live North of us had already returned. They had gone by our place and reported to us that all was well. The fire maps we had seen all indicated that the fire hadn't come as far west as us, but it was great to have confirmation. Of course, we also had concerns about looters. A few weeks before the fire we had already suffered some vandalism. When we got the news about re-entry we were ecstatic, we couldn't get loaded fast enough. It was great on another level, as the rental we were using was booked for the weekend. We needed to be out anyway. We had received offers from other friends of places to stay, but going home is SO much better!
Everything at home was okay, other than some wind damage from the blustery norther. It seemed very quiet in our area. A lot of people have not returned. Just a couple of miles away families have lost everything. My cousin lives four miles away and was burned out. At this moment the count is nearly 1400 structures burned. Most of those are homes, with a few barns, offices, and other buildings. I believe there have been only four human fatalities so far, but innumerable animal casualties. The fire is still only 30% contained now, but it has moved further south. At latest count close to 35,000 acres has burned. This includes almost all of Bastrop State Park, parts of other parks, and so many neighborhoods. A huge blackened area is visible by satellite.
This is the satellite picture. We are located just above Lake Bastrop seen on the left side of the map. This is a shot from a French satellite, processed by UT.
In our area, however, the continuing northerly winds carry the smoke away from us. We smell very little of it here. Air quality is down, but not too bad. The smoke is not even visible from here.
We were so lucky!
For those who may be interested. Check out the beautiful vacation rental we stayed at. It is called "Wren's Nest" in Austin, Tx. It can be seen on www.homeaway.com , listing #293833. Phone 512-788-1044. Tell Amanda that William RainCrow sent you!
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