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Please pray for the horrendous wildfires where I am


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Here I was, complaining about the heat.....little did I know.
July 30, 2022. at 2 am, I just got home from a hair raising trip. Late afternoon it rained hard with thunder and lightning. It felt so wonderful because it cooled off the air outside. Then the good stuff changed to really bad stuff. We got a call from friends in Yreka city to ask if we were OK because they had heard there was a wildfire near us. We told them we were fine and we had not heard of any fire. They called back and told us where they heard it was, which was back towards Horse Creek and Klamath River.

Sooo, I thought I should go and see if there was one and how bad it was; I won't ever do that again. I actually got caught by and in the fire, it was terrifying to say the least. No problem going to see it and saw that it was consuming the forest across the river from hwy 96. It looked pretty bad; it was flaring and crowning and moving extremely fast from the wind it created. OK, so I saw it and had no need to stay, I was a half mile from it and could not roll the window down in the truck because the heat from it was  so intense. No fire at all on the north side of hwy 96, it was all across the river to the south.

I turn and head back home. I get less than a half mile and slammed on the brakes; there is a wall of fire coming across the road 50 feet high and being pushed by a tremendous wind that it created. The wind actually rocked the truck back and forth violently. All of a sudden it was raining fiery embers all over the truck, like hail, only it was fire. I hit reverse and just in time, the fire changed direction and was now burning on both sides of the road and keeping pace with me backing up at about 30 mph, Now I see a wall of fire behind me and burning embers raining down on the truck. I cut the wheel hard left and hit the brakes, turning the truck in its own width. Floored the gas and hoped I could get through the wall of fire and out the other side, if there was another side. Fortunately there was, but even inside the truck with the air conditioner on the heat was almost unbearable, I don't think I would have lasted long if I had to go through any more fire before getting out of it.

So my wife Linda was back home probably worrying about where I was. I couldn't get through the fire to get back home, so decided to go to Yreka city where I could call her and see if she was OK, because I had no idea if the fire had changed direction and gone down river to my place. Here I should explain for those that do not know about really remote living, that there is only one road and it is the road I live on. There is only one other way to get here, but it means going 80 miles around to come out on the road I live on just below my house.

I went to Yreka and had just enough gas to make it. My plan was get gas and come back and see if I could wait out the fire crossing the road and then get home. But on the way to Yreka I decided against coming back down hwy 96 and decided instead to go from Yreka to Scott Valley and down the Scott River Road, which would get me to hwy. 96 about a mile from my house. I made the trip OK, it took about two hours on a very winding mountain road, But I have driven it many times and it was not new to me.

So, that's how my day went and I hope to never have another one like it. Scared is a mild term for what I went through; almost being fatally trapped by fire is not something I ever want to experience again.

[url]https://www.facebook.com/649802718/videos/468700511315263/[/url]

[url]https://www.facebook.com/SiskiyouCountySheriff/photos[/url]

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I'm so thankful that you're okay, Brother, and your wife as well. I've never experienced anything like that. I've heard a lot of people (including relatives) talk about the wildfires out there, and I know they're dangerous. We are certainly praying for the fires and those affected by them. 

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Thanks to all for prayer. As of today the fires seem to be lessening due to the efforts of firefighters. The one I was caught in is almost fully contained after burning 60,000acres and covering a distance of 50 linear miles. 87 homes wiped out and four lives lost. Two of the fatalities were right in the same stretch of road I got caught on. They were found deceased in their burned out car in their driveway.

There is still one fire that is about seven miles from me, that seems to be holding in place, t least for the last day it has held.

I made it to church today, but had to do some fancy talking to get through the road closures.

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