Fires

The fires were really bad here on Monday and I couldn't get home from work. Only one road was open going south, but it was a parking lot from all the traffic fed from I-95. I took another road east and thought I could take my country road south, but could only get so far. The sheriff deputies were stopping people and not letting them through because of the dangerous, smoky conditions. I stopped to visit a friend in the neighborhood and sat with him on his porch. We could hear the helicopters bringing water to the fires; could see and smell the smoke and see the ashes coming into his porch. Later, my husband came to get me on his 4-wheeler and told me to follow him home. Once I was home, I was nervous about the fires coming into our yard. My anxiety reminded me of the hurricanes. We had the water sprinklers going to protect our yard from burning embers. At 8:00 pm, our power went off until about midnight.
Two homes were burned to the ground just 1-1/2 miles north of us. I drove by them and many burned woody areas on the way to work. The charred woods are an unimaginable devastation to the wildlife and rural living in this neighborhood. We're so blessed that we did not have any fires close by.
I saw fire trucks driving down our roads from cities as far south as Boynton Beach and West Palm Beach and as far north as Jacksonville. The radio DJs were asking for donations for the fireman. They needed quick snacks, drinks and--can you believe they needed new socks and underwear? I guess you can't get that sooty smoke out of them so I donated some.
As of today, the fires are 70% contained and there's only a 20% chance of rain this weekend. So, pray for the protection of the firemen and for rain.