Today marks the eighth anniversary of the Tubbs Fire that in the very early hours of October 9th, 2017 raced through parts of my town and turned entire neighborhoods to ashes. One of those neighborhoods was our old one. We weren't living there anymore at that time - we had moved to our current home five years before the fires - but the devastation and the anxious-filled days following that fateful night are still very vivid in my memory.
I didn't really want to write about this until I saw that today's prompt over at Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date is "fire" - too much of a coincidence for me to ignore.
These are the remains of the Brookdale House, our old home.
We had lived 11 years in this house and we had been very happy in it. Here Kaefer grew from a three-year old to a teenager, important years in our book. Some of our neighbors were more than just neighbors, they had become friends. The husband of the lovely couple across the street had become Kaefer's substitute grandpa. Not much was left of their home.
The couple next to us often barbecued in their backyard and the most delicious flavors were wafting over to our yard. More than a few times they invited us over and revealed some of their "cooking secrets". I am so glad that both Kaefer and I were able to say goodbye to the husband a few days before he died. During the night of the fire, his wife (now a widow) thankfully wasn't at home, but staying at her daughter's home in Tahoe. She never returned.
Some neighbors moved to other neighborhoods or towns, others rebuilt. The good connection that we had with all of them unfortunately didn't last. Every now and then I see some of them, but the bond has certainly loosened.
I went up to the burnt out neighborhood right after the fires twice. Once, to see some of my old neighbors and the other time to take Kaefer up there. She was already studying at UC Davis at the time of the fire. When we got the permission to enter the property, we went to what used to be our backyard. And here a little miracle happened - I found one of the small concrete Japanese pagodas that I had forgotten when we moved because they had been covered by ivy. It had survived the inferno!
4 comments:
Dear Carola, thank you so much for sharing the beauty that you have discovered...even among devastation!
So sad. So many places ruined by fires in recent years. Quite heart breaking. B x
...WOW, that was devastating. We have fires here, but never widespread ones. Carola, take care and be well.
Sad memories of a devastating fire.
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