Look behind them. It's not "urban." It's uncleared dry-country wilderness with houses scattered about.
Posted on 10/13/2017 6:25:50 AM PDT by Red Badger
Jan Pascoe and her husband, John, were trapped. The world was on fire, and Jan was hyperventilating from fear. Then they remembered their neighbors’ pool.
“You’ve got to calm down, Jan,” she told herself. “You can’t go underwater and hyperventilate.”
At 12:40 a.m. Monday, Jan called 911. She reached a dispatcher.
“We are going to get into the neighbors’ pool, should we do this?’
The dispatcher said, “Get anywhere safe.”
“Please. We will be in the pool,” Jan replied. “This is where we are.”
“In my naivete, all night long,” she would tell me later, “I thought someone would come to get us.”
Jan, 65, and her husband, John, 70, debated when to get in. She wanted to right away, but John said, “Hold off. The water’s cold. Let’s see what happens.”
As they stood at the edge of the pool, the neighbors’ house caught fire. A big tree next to the pool went up in flames. The railroad ties framing the concrete steps leading to the pool ignited.
“The heat was ‘whoa,’” John said. He stripped off his pants and jacket, and wearing only a T-shirt, turned to Jan and said, “Jump in now.”
She was wearing a thin tank top and lightweight pajama bottoms. Her glasses had disappeared.
They submerged themselves in the blackened, debris-filled water. They had grabbed T-shirts to hold over their faces to protect themselves from embers when they surfaced for air.
They moved to the part of the pool farthest from the house. John was worried about having to tread water, or hanging on to the side, which could be dangerous with all the burning objects flying around. Blessedly, the pool had no deep end. It was about 4 feet deep all the way across.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
I buy firewood from a man who lives on the side of a mountain. He keeps a 150’ buffer of cleared area around his house after coming close to losing it to a wildfire that melted the siding and shattered all the windows several years ago.
Dependent upon government to help is no way to go thru life, because it will end in an early death................they were lucky...........
Once burnt, twice learnt...................
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These are urban areas, not wilderness. The fact they had money, or chose not to live in an apartment building should not be such a spoiler for your empathy.
This also was not a natural fire, it was deliberately set in densely populated areas in multiple spots to overwhelm fire fighting defenses.
Jihad sucks when you tax people to pay to import Jahadi.
Red, I am going to link to this from the Raging Fires Thread in Breaking News. Thanks for posting...
Not nice <:0)
We owned a bayside home when a hurricane went by, causing an 8ft storm-surge. When we finally got to the property, there was lots of debris all over the lawn down to the water and the pier was lying on the rip rap about 40 ft away from its pilings.
My wife was a city girl and asked “Who is going to come and clean all this mess up?” I was a country boy and replied “You and me”.
Did they learn a lesson and change the way they vote? No.
Did they learn a lesson on where not to build? No.
Did they learn a lesson to get out before the fire is on top of them? No.
One wonders how they feel about the Environment now.
Look behind them. It's not "urban." It's uncleared dry-country wilderness with houses scattered about.
All my inside walls are cement so would need a jack hammer. Every room has windows. Lots of windows. Once out, jump into the river or escape in the boat.
Imagine the tale the kindly old Chinese guy will tell about the buck nekkid white dude.
What was the point in taking off their clothes? Afraid to get them wet?
Note to self. Put on undies before worrying about some old bowls.
There were railroad ties in this article. First thing I thought of was oil and creosote burn well. But then this is the land of fruits and nuts.
Why didn’t they put the cat in a carrier? Yes, the carrier would have melted but still.
I live in MN. Please tell me, what is a storm surge? Is it a tital wave?
“Storm surge” is when the hurricane winds push the water up onto the land. It is a phenomenon unrelated to tsunamis or “tidal waves,” which are caused by earthquakes, either undersea or near a large body of water (such as the Black Sea).
“when they tell you to evacuate, DO IT!!!”
Definitely. When we lived in Simi Valley, CA, we got the word to evacuate and were packed and ready to go. Just five minutes later the order was canceled - thank Heaven. I’ve been through hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes. Fire is most terrifying.
The cat... the article says he hasn’t been seen since he jumped out of the car. Doubtful that he survived.
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