The past month or so have been unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Back in August, the Coal Hollow fire started because a tree was hit by lightning. It was close t o home but not so close that it directly affected people we knew. Mostly, it was a major inconvenience because our entire house smelled like smoke and we had to either escape Spanish Fork or hide out in our basements. A couple weeks later, it went away.
In September, a fire that they decided to let just burn, drastically took a turn for the worse when a long period of dry weather and high winds caused this fire to spread exponentially. What was just a little bit of smoke turned into extremely hazy, grey skies and billows of smoke coming over the tops of the mountains. One day while I was driving home from work, I was shocked and how scary those mountains looked. It seemed as if the fire was RIGHT THERE. I texted Bryan and asked if we were safe. His reply was, “actually no, I was just informed that we are in pre-evacuation.”
A million thoughts started running through my head. How close is this fire? Where will we go? Will we still have school? What are you supposed to bring? How much time will we have to leave?
After talking through it and looking at maps of where the fire was, we decided that it probably would not come all the way through the canyon to us, but that it is better to be prepared. I gathered important documents, some clothes, our wedding pictures, stuff from missions and Jerusalem, and my violin, packed them all up, and put them by the door. There they stayed for two weeks.
We were safe. But all around us, our world was being turned upside down. There were two fires that were merging into one. People in Elk Ridge and Woodland Hills, cities close by, were evacuated. Members of the Covered Bridge branch that meet in our church building were evacuated. Suddenly we were in the middle of a situation where people needed places to stay, basic necessities, and food to eat.
I read a facebook post of a girl who went to help her parents evacuate. She gave permission in the post to share, so I am going to because it wasn't until I read this that the whole thing really hit me.
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A fire is coming. You’re being evacuated. You only have 20 minutes to grab whatever you can. …What do you take?
It is 4:51 a.m. and I’m still awake. I can’t sleep. I can smell the smoke and the ash in the air, but maybe it’s because I just went outside to get something out of the car. I can smell the fire burning.
Only 15 hours ago I received a text telling me to prepare to evacuate my home at any time. By 5:00 p.m. (three hours later) we were ordered to evacuate our homes as quickly as possible. So, the question still stands… what do you take?
The entire time I was driving home to help my family evacuate I kept asking myself that same question. To my surprise, I could only think of a few things. They were items that, although seemingly pointless to others, were treasures to us. Items we could not replace. We didn’t haul out the flat screen TVs, we didn’t try to load up the couches. Instead, we grabbed the photo albums. We filled boxes and boxes with our albums. We took the wedding dresses. We removed precious paintings/photos from the wall.
And that’s it.
Because when you only have a few minutes to take everything… what do you take? What is most important?
Today I drove away from my home, perhaps seeing it as it is for the last time, with tears streaming down my face. I have always claimed to have grown up in the best place on earth. I consider my home to be a well-kept secret from most, as well as a sanctuary from the world. I drove away today, not just from a building I call my house – but an entire canyon I call my home. My heart is breaking knowing the fire might wipe it all out. However, no matter what happens I feel immensely blessed to have grown up in one of the most beautiful places on earth.
So, there’s a fire coming. You only have 20 minutes to evacuate. What do you take? What is most important?
Family.
The Gospel.
We already have it. When it comes right down to it, nothing else truly matters. How grateful I am that my family and I are safe and that we have the gospel in our lives. We may never see our home the same way again… but we also might. I believe in miracles. I believe in God. I believe He has a plan for us and He will guide us, as long as we listen.
Come what may, but we will pray. We will not stop praying. We will never stop praying. Prayer is one of the most powerful connections we have with God. So I beg you to pray with us. Pray for the firefighters. Pray for the winds to cease. Pray. Because with hundreds of prayers, we just might see a miracle.
And in the end, if we return to ashes, then we will rebuild. God is on our side.
But we will pray, and we will never stop praying.
Please pray.
I haven't lived here my whole life, but there are many who have. Many who have memories of girl's camp, hiking, camping, and canyon drives. People who can't imagine their lives without these mountains. It would be absolutely devastating if they were gone!
Smoke consumed our every day living, ash started falling from the sky, during the day the mountains that are basically in our backyard could not even be seen, and at night the sky was illuminated with flames, dangerously close to where all those people just left.
Our stake president called for a daily prayer at 7pm where everyone would stop wherever they were and say a prayer for safety and cooperating weather. The next Sunday the entire valley participated in a fast in hopes that our faith would be sufficient for a miracle.
And it wasn't even hours later that there was
RAIN. It didn't last long, but there was rain!! It was the greatest manifestation of answers to prayer. The fires were long from being gone, but the most amazing thing was that
not a single house or life was lost.
Firefighters and other EMS came from all over the state to help structure and fight the fires. Anywhere you went in Spanish Fork, you would see fire trucks of all different shapes, sizes, and colors.
Donations came in like crazy that they actually started
turning people away. Can you imagine that?? There was an abundance of those who were willing to help.
We have so much gratitude for all those who contributed to helping keep us safe and aided those who were displaced from their homes.
Here is a
link to photos of the fires and firefighters.
Since then, we have had a plethora of rain and it is so nice to see clear skies again! Throughout, those weeks, what stuck out to me the most, was that even amidst the darkest of circumstances, faith really can conquer all and that our Heavenly Father is mindful of us and does protect and care for us according to our faith. He answers prayers and all things are possible through Him!
