Fire Fire Fire!!! (Day 1)

Because I use this for my family scrapbook, journal, etc. etc. I feel this is a very important event to document.

     I am currently typing this blog post from a hotel.  This has been a very very crazy week.  Let me start from the beginning.  On Sunday we all woke up and started getting ready for the day.  Skip was working from 8-4 that day so he got ready and headed out.  The kids and I had a more relaxed morning.  We had breakfast and relaxed a little before getting ready for church.  We then headed out to church.
     Skip and I are currently serving in the nursery class at church so I was in their with all the kids and there are a couple of other leaders as well.  At about 3:50 we opened the window to let the kids look outside while we wait for church to end (we do this every Sunday....the kids love to look out the window).  One of the other leaders started commenting on the smoke outside and the fact that he had noticed it before church.  At 4:00 church ended and I went and picked the boys up from their class and started to head up our neighborhood to our house.  At this time you could see a lot of smoke coming up over the hill.  To give you an idea.....everyone drove to the top of our neighborhood (where our house is ) to check out the smoke/fire before going home. 
     When I got home and walked in Skip was already home.  He had left a little bit early that day (turned out to be a huge blessing).  So Skip and I decided to go outside and see how bad the smoke had gotten.  It looked pretty bad but you could not really tell how far away it was.  I decided to call the Herriman Fire Dept to ask.  At this time it is about 4:20.  The fire dept told me there was a fire at Camp Williams but it was a ways away so we did not have to be to concerned.  I told myself okay and began getting myself and the kids ready to go to my parents for dinner.  We were having dinner at 5pm.
     At about 4:45 we loaded into the van and started heading down the neighborhood to my parents house.   When we got to the bottom of the neighborhood we were going to turn out when about 6 fire trucks started pulling into our neighborhood.  I was immediately concerned.....if they are all coming to our neighborhood chances are the fire is coming as well.  We turned around and followed the fire trucks up to the top (right by my house).  We got out of the car and started talking to them.
     They said that there was a possibility the fire was heading this way.  I asked them what I should do?  Do I still go to my parents house?  Do I need to take valuables with me?  They said that If I went I should probably take my really important stuff with me.  By this time it is 5pm and I am starting to freak out. I call my parents and my in laws and tell them to please come help us get the important stuff out of our house.
      My neighbors are all outside by now. More and more police, fire trucks, etc. are showing up.  I am now beginning to really panic.  We start trying to figure out the important stuff we need to get out of our house.  It is crazy because you think you know what you would grab but when it is actually happening it is so confusing.     Let me kind of explain what is going on at this point.  I am panicking thinking of everything I need to get out of my house, everything that could be gone if I don't...Casen is crying and grabbing things like legos and a $5 lamp.  We are telling Casen we can not take those things.  Cora is screaming and holding onto my legs because she is tired and hungry.  Jace is also grabbing random things he thinks he should take.  Then the bad gets worse.
      My mother in law calls and says their are cops everywhere and they will not let anyone up into our neighborhood.  Then my parents call...they cant get up either.  I am freaking out I have my three kids a house full of stuff and I can not get any help up there.  My mom gives her phone to the police who I beg to let them up to help me.  He is yelling at me to get my kids in the car and get out of there. This is bad....getting worse.  I decide I do need to get my kids out of there.  There were police everywhere so I took the three kids to the first police officer and asked them to take them out of there.  He was very nice and took the kids.  This would give Skip and I a few minutes to grab thing.
     Now for my tribute to my brother Brandon....He was with my parents when they refused to let them up.  He decided he would jump fences and go in peoples back yards and try to sneak up to our house.  One cop saw him and told him if he did not evacuate immediately he would be arrested.  He knew we needed help though and so he went back up jumping peoples back fences.  When he got to my house he was throwing up over and over again.  By this time the smoke was so bad and he was running.  So he had some smoke inhalation.  It was so nice to have him up there to help.
     The cops began driving up and down our street with sirens and lights going.  We kept grabbing stuff.  We tried to get as much as we could into the van and skips car. Our neighbors are doing the same thing. Finally several police went house to house and forced us out of our home.  They made sure everyone was out and then put yellow sheriff tape across it.  When we looked up at the mountain now it was not just smoke...you could see flames.  Brandon drove me and the van out.  Skip drove his car out.  We got down to the church where both our parents were and they had the kids.  I was physically sick!
     We drove to my parents house. It was an emotional ride over.  We kept looking outside (from my parents house in South Jordan) and you could tell it was getting worse.  We were watching the news. Our neighborhood was the first to be evacuated (about 200 homes) but the news kept raising these evacuation numbers.  The fire was gaining ground.  We drove back out toward Herriman (a couple hours later to see what was going on)  the smoke, cars, and confusion was everywhere.  The roads were all blocked.  You could just see the mountain burning.  It looked like our neighborhood had been swallowed by flames.  None of the emergency personnel had any answers as to what was going on...which neighborhood/ houses were on fire.  Everyone was directing us to Herriman High School (where the emergency evacuation shelter was).  Skip and Thad were in one car.  My mom and I were in another.  I swear it took forever to get to the high school.  Tons of roads closed...traffic like I have never seen because of the evacuations. In the meantime their was all kinds of confusing information.  People were saying some houses in the cove had burned but they didn't know which ones.
     I was balling when I reached Herriman High.  One of the city councilmen started hugging me telling me he would try to get some more information. Everyone was glued to the TVs they had set up watching the news, trying to get some information as to what was going on.  We stayed there for a while but there was no information.  No one knew what was going on.  We finally decided to go back to my parents house to watch the news and see if the kids would go to bed.
     I stayed glued to the TV and internet until about 2 am trying to get information.  I decided to try and lay down at about 2am.  Of course I could not sleep.  At about 3 am my mom and I decided to drive back out toward Herriman to try and get information.  We got as close as we could to our neighborhood, which was not close to it.  It looked like the entire Cove was on fire.  I couldn't even handle it....especially the not knowing.  We took all the back roads and eventually made it to the Herriman fire station, which was command central for the fire.  This center was full of firefighters, police, and media.  I was balling my eyes out and went to a couple of fire fighters and just asked them if my house was still there.  They were so compassionate. They took me into the fire station to the head person.  He was also a very very nice man.  He told me that my house was still there.  He said it was still at risk but it was still there.  I was so relived just to get some factual information.  I went home and slept for about two hours and then got up the next morning hoping the fire fighters were wining.