June 18, 2011: Saturday (AM)
Yesterday was another day full of surprises. I got up and went to Beth & Roy's to make a perch for the bird from some of their firewood. The dogs ran around while I picked my stick, cleaned it with bleach and sanded it down. Then I ran errands, like buying bird toys, picking up our mail (which was evacuated to the Sierra Vista post office), and visiting my mom.
I took the "other route" to Sierra Vista - the one that doesn't go near the fire - and was driving 65 mph when my phone rang. I didn't answer, but then I thought, "Maybe it's the sheriff calling to tell me about my house." So I pulled over and returned the call. The outgoing message said it was Kristi Somebody's phone, but didn't specify any agency. I left a message: "If you're Kristi from Cox, the branches got trimmed back and the guy did a fabulous job. Thanks! If you're calling from the Sheriff's office, please call me at this number again as soon as possible. I really want to know if my house still exists! Thanks." I left my name and number, and kept on driving.
The phone rang a few moments later, and Kristi confirmed that she was from Cox, expressed sympathy and concern for my situation, then asked if she knew of any way to track the fire better, because Cox has to know about infrastructure to replace, etc. I gave her Jeff's number, because he has all the URLs, and didn't think any more of it. I had lots to do in Sierra Vista, and I wanted to get home in time to give my birdie another perch and some toys.
Picking up the mail was better than I expected. The line extended across the entire lobby/mailbox area, but moved quickly. Within 25 minutes, I was at the window. The woman wasn't going to give me Mom's mail, because the name on PO Box 1723 didn't match mine, and apparently she didn't think that Amelia Quinn's mail going to both PO Box 703 in my name and 1723 was proof enough. However, the post office employee who rented me the PO Box and knows me walked up at just that moment, and was willing to vouch for me. Hurray for small towns!
As I left the PO, I ran into my friend Florene from Buena HS. We were chatting when my phone rang. It was a Cox employee checking infrastructure in Stump Canyon. "I'm in your front yard," he said. "Your house is still there, but your yard is going to need some work." It was the best news I'd had since the fire got bad in Stump Canyon and jumped the lines.
Kristi, bless her heart, had called and asked him to go check on the house for me. Better yet, he checked on the houses behind ours, and they all looked okay. I wanted him to check on Sharon's house to the north, too, but we lost the phone signal. Nonetheless, good news for everyone. I felt like I was floating on air.
My last stop in Sierra Vista was Hacienda Rehab. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that there was a new fire on Fort Huachuca, and that Hacienda might have to evacuate to Tucson. Not surprisingly, the center was understaffed, with so many people evacuating, and the people who were working were on edge, trying to get everything ready just in case. As the UPS guy in the parking lot said, "It's been a really weird day. I was delivering packages in Cochise Crossing and they evacuated the entire subdivision."
I got more news about the newly christened Antelope Fire when I got back to Bisbee and talked to Jeff. He had been listening to the live radio chatter all day via the Internet. What had happened was that a spark from a bulldozer started a fire, and the pilot of a slurry plane noticed something while flying overhead with a load of slurry. He dropped it on the new fire and alerted everybody, which I'm sure resulted in quick containment. I'm also sure that God had some hand in this, because the fire just happened to be starting as a slurry plane just happened to be flying overhead, and the pilot just happened to notice the brushfire. Thus there was a quick resolution to what could have been a terrible tragedy. As it was, I'm sure the residents who had to evacuate in a hurry thought this was bad enough.
Kristi phoned again to tell me there was a photo of the house, and that she could send it to me. Talk about above and beyond customer service! We can see from the photo that the fire crew took everything flammable off the porch for us (why didn't we think of that?) and that the fire burned a lot in the front yard from the north, but everything visible in the top acre looks fine. Even a green tree still in the front yard. Astonishing!
I'm very glad we saw that before we saw the photo of our driveway on azstarnet.com, in the June 16 photo gallery. You can see the mailbox with our address, and the trees behind it (to the north) on fire, with forty-foot flames shooting up above the trees, and smoke, or perhaps smoke and flame, rolling across the highway. It's a terrifying picture. Jacqui emailed it to Jeff, but for some reason he didn't check his personal email, and as a result, didn't see the scary picture until after he knew our home was still standing.
Pizza night at the Bisbee Beverage House was truly celebratory, since we know our home, and the homes of many of our friends, are still safe.
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