Friday, April 24, 2009

Things like that don't happen here...

I have been saying that here lately. I mean, most people see things on the news and think 'that won't happen here'. Well that all changed on April 22. If you have been watching the news, you might know about a wildfire on the coast of SC. Many, many residents have been evacuated. Most were woken up at 3:30am with a knock on the door. They were not given the opportunity to grab anything. They just had to leave. The fire has destroyed or damaged many of their houses.

The severity of the fire did not hit me until yesterday. I was able to completely see the smoke. I have seen the smoke before, but my view was blocked by trees. Yesterday there were no trees, no buildings blocking my view. It was heart wrenching. Every time the smoke turned black, I knew that someone had just lost their house. It was at that moment that I realized just how lucky I was. If the wind had been blowing in the opposite direction on Wednesday I would be the one in a shelter.

I must say that our community ROCKS!! There are hotels offering free rooms, property management companies that are offering a place to say and there are private citizens that are opening up their homes. The restaurants are stepping up to the plate as well. Many of them are offering food to those displaced. They are feeding the hundreds of men and women fighting the blaze. We have the National Guard from SC and NC flying helicopters to drop water from their Bambi buckets. We have fire departments from all along the coast and SC coming here. The Red Cross has been at the command center since the fire began. They have been helping those displaced and the fire crews. They were on the scene when the first homes were evacuated and they will be there until the very last moment.

Sometimes life proves that Heroes are just ordinary people who do extraordinary things.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I was hoping you were directly affected by the fires. I hope they are contained soon. Don't you love living in the generous South where people step up and help out because they are just so kind. We continue to hope you don't need to get out of the way. Kelly

 

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