Fire Alarm

The girls came home this morning at 9:00 a.m. and shortly thereafter we picked up the dry cleaning then it was back to the house to wait for my niece and nephew to be dropped off at 10:00 a.m. They were running a little late so as soon as they got to my house we quickly packed up and hurried to Springville for reading tutor at 11:00. On the way to the appointment I realized my cell phone hadn't charged overnight and was dead. I got a feeling like I would really need it today so I stopped by my parents work to borrow a charger.

We finally made it to reading tutor with only a moment to spare. (Pam pulled up as I was unlocking the door.) My sister had the day off of work so she came up to my parent’s house to work on baby gifts with me. I realized I needed a few things for the projects so ran down to Wal-mart to get them. What a nightmare! The Springville Wal-mart is redoing the floor plan in the store and things are all over the place. I had to ask where items were three times. I waited in line for what seemed an eternity as most of the check-out stations seemed to be broken. An hour and 45 minutes later I finally got back up to my parents house. Sadly the kids would have been swimming most of the time I was gone if I hadn't accidentally taken their swim suits with me. :(

While getting Kent III ready to go swimming his diaper strap broke so he insisted on holding it up until someone could run downstairs to get the diaper bag with his swim diapers in it. He just looked too cute holding his diaper up that I had to snap a picture.



Despite the frustrations, I did have a lot of fun hanging out with my sister and working on baby gifts together. She was very kind to be willing to take the time out of a precious day off to let me weasel in on her baby gift projects so I could make some too.

Around 4:00 I made my way down to the shop to return my parents charger. While talking with my parents we saw the smoke from a fire in Southern Utah County. As I was leaving my Aunt showed up and told me not to take the freeway home as there was an accident on the freeway between Provo and Orem and a semi had rolled over at the Springville exit I would have taken out of town. Since I had to go through town anyway I stopped at my sisters house to drop off a few things I had forgotten to give her. As I was leaving she got a call from work (she works for the Forest Service) saying there was a fire up Payson Canyon and everyone was going to be evacuated.

Eep!

Kent and all the scouts were up Payson Canyon. I was a little nervous but a little excited that Kent could be coming home today rather than tomorrow.

After we left my sister's house we went back up to my parents because Samantha had forgotten her reading tutor homework. While up there we had a much better view of the fire across the valley so I snapped a few pictures.





On our way out of Springville I called Kent's cell and left a message asking if he was coming home early and what was happening. (Of course, after offering a prayer of thanks that I had been inspired to get my phone charged up.) About five minutes later he called me back. He hadn't gotten my message but was just calling me to let me know they were on their way out of the canyon. Apparently they were told to evacuate and he only had enough time to grab his keys, his wallet and his cell phone before jumping in the car with some of his scouts. The other leader and scouts had to hitch a ride with another scout troop as half of the boys, the other leader and all the equipment had just been dropped off on Monday. All the scouts and leaders were meeting at a church in Payson and Kent would let me know what would be happening as he learned the news. He said from their campsite they could see big black billowing smoke but there was no immediate danger so they were fine.

A few minutes later I got another call from Kent asking me if I could stop at one of the boys' house and leave a note as they had been unable to get a hold of their parents to let them know what was going on. After I did that (I actually met the Mom in the driveway coming home so was able to talk to her) I called Kent and he asked me to stop at another boy's house and do the same thing.

Poor Savannah was tired from swimming for hours and longingly looked at our house each time we drove past it. :) I told her this was part of sustaining and supporting her father in his calling and that we would be home very, very soon. :)

In the early evening Kent called to let me know he was coming home because they were not being allowed back in the canyon but didn't know exactly when he would be home. He would need to get the ok to leave, wait for another vehicle to pick up the other boys and the other leader and then he had some scouts to drop off at their homes before coming to ours. He ended getting home a little after 8:00 p.m.

Tonight on the news he was pointing out how very close the fire was. It had gone up one side of a ridge and was at the top where the firefighters were able to keep it at bay. He kept saying, "See that ridge? Down the other side, is right where we were. We could see all that from our campsite."

!!!

Earlier in the day he had made it sound like it was very far way when it was actually pretty close. I am sure he did that so I wouldn't worry as much but it was still scary when he pointed it out.

If you are interested here are a few links to articles/information about the Spring Lake Fire:


http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=3912315

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_10071351

http://www.utahfireinfo.gov/fire/Spring%20Lake%20Fire/Spring%20Lake.htm

I am so very grateful all the scouts and leaders were able to make it out safe and that others, who had to be evacuated from their homes, are also safe. I pray the firefighters will be able to put the fire out quickly and with no injuries.

I wanted Kent home, but not like this. Guess I need to be a little more specific next time. One thing is for sure...this is a Scout camp experience no one will ever forget!

My mind does keep wondering though, what it is about camping this year that seems to be such a bad thing for our family? I wish I knew...

A crazy, full day that you probably didn't need to hear all the intimate details about...but I have warned you, I tend to ramble! :)