Fires

We knew when we moved up here that forest fires could potentially be a thing to watch out for. Knowing that and actually seeing it way too close for comfort is a completely different thing. This fire went from virtually nothing to thousands of acres in a couple of days. It was over the next ridge behind us and was as close as half a mile when it was all said and done. We are beyond thankful for all the firemen and the work they did. We also have a plan and feel much better about the situation if it ever happens again.

View from downtown Andrews. Not my picture, but whoever took this did a great job.

They started giving us daily updates thank goodness.

It started small....

And grew very quickly. The conditions were just right.

Right off of Junaluska Rd less than 5 miles from us. This is on the right as you go up to Granny T and Jim's cabin.

I had to go check it out one afternoon and it was just the creepiest feeling.

You could see the smoke from the beginning of our road.

Red rectangle is our property.

Thankfully when the Southern Blue Team took over, they did daily video updates and really kept us posted. They did an amazing job with the fire itself and organizing the information to make it easy for the community to see what was going on.

The first time they put Genesis Lane on the map.

We had firemen show up at our house and offered to help us cut some things back away from the house. The children and I were the only ones home when these guys just came walking across the field. The dogs went crazy of course. They were too scared to come up Genesis any further. We completely understand why.

They got all their epuipment out and went to work. Of course, Perry came home and got right out there with them. We made sure they had coffee and sweets and then fed them lunch. They were from Colorado and had never seen hardwood forests like this. It was a cool experience, but I'm sure glad the fire is officially out!