Just saw this thread. Thanks guys.... and Meg.
Its been a crazy couple of days. Redding has a population of about 90k and over 30k have been evacuated. Tom Conway and myself live on the south side of Redding. The fire is on the Northwest side. It’s currently about 65 sq miles large.
Last night I got a call that my Mother-in-law needed to be evacuated from her assisted living facility. If I wasn’t able to get her they were going to bus her to someplace in Sacramento. I drove 95mph to get her.
On the way I could see the flames off to the west and the sky was bright orange. Ash was falling in clumps. When I arrived at the facility, the staff had all the elderly parked in their wheelchairs and walkers in the front lobby. All of them had signs taped to their chests with their names and DOB’s. It was like walking into a live morgue.
I located my InLaw-Unit and told her to stay put while I collect her meds and clothes. I grabbed a garbage bag from a staff member and went into her room gathering her things. While I was in there the power went out. The power failure caused the magnets that hold all the fire doors open to release, slamming all the doors shut.
Using the flashlight on my cell phone I was able to continue gathering my mom’s stuff. When I left the room and went out into the hallway, I found myself with an old woman and her walker standing in the dark. I opened the heavy fire door for her and tried to guide her to the front lobby. She was suffering from dementia and with every other step would stop and say, “I need to find Irma. Where did Irma go?”
We eventually made it to the front lobby where I transferred custody of my new friend to a staff member. I then grabbed the InLaw-Unit, stuffed her and her walker into the car, and made a mad dash home.
My wife’s mom is suffering from dementia bad. All night long she kept walking into our room looking for the bathroom. At one point my oldest son came running into my room yelling, “Grandma just walked out the front door!” It was a very long night!
This morning we woke up to Facebook posts of many of our friends losing their homes. So sad. I pray my family will be spared. Currently we are safe but with the speed this fire is moving, we’re prepared to leave fast if needed. We have our 10k watt generator fueled up along with the vehicles. Suitcases are packed and placed by the door.
As I sit here writing this, I’m continually interrupted by my mom’s constant questioning , “Where am I? I need to go to room #4. Where did I put my purse?” Growing old is hell. It breaks my heart to see her like this. I watched her husband slowly desolve and die and now we’re watching her. We’re doing everything we can to make her comfortable.
So today I cleaned two large vacant homes. The second place was near the evacuation zone. By the end of the job I was covered in soot and caughing like crazy. The entire city is under a thick cloud of smoke and ash. I’ll be up all night watching the news. The town is filled with National Gaurd, CHP, Firefighters, and OES. I live near the Redding Airport and Cal-Fire Northern Ops bomber base. Watching the tankers fly over my house is a huge relief. I give them a big thumbs up whenever they fly over. We currently have the 747 firebomber up here and that baby is big!
Mikey, if your daughter needs any help at all, please tell her I’m available. If she needs a place to go with her cats, We’ll make room for her.
