Here is a view of the tarp we have placed across our hillside from the cul de sac below our house. I bet those folks are glad we are being responsible. If we were to have a mudslide, they are the ones who would me most affected.
I was glad to see that the neighbors are tarping their hillsides as well. If any of the hill were to go, that would weaken our hill, and we would lose some of our property. You know that view I love so much? I guess there is a price tag. Hillside worries. Fire and mudslides.
I went through the answering machine messages today. One of them really ticked me off. And I'm not the only one angry about this. We evacuated at 2:20pm on Saturday the 15th. I decided to leave my garage because, in addition to overwhelming smoke, I felt actual HEAT from the fire. Thank goodness the babies were already buckled into the car. The city called us on reverse 911 at 4:31pm and told us to evacuate. This was over TWO HOURS LATE! Oh, and did I mention that there were no police or fire during the emergency? They showed up over an hour later, after many homes had already burned. There is something really wrong with the system when our officials are not there for us during our time of need. We lucked out at my house that the fire got going slowly enough for the firemen and neighbors to put it out. But really. I think there needs to be a better system of keeping track of the fire. I suggested to the fire captain last week that they should have infrared capability along with GPS in observational aircraft keeping an eye on things. And even if they run our of firefighters, they should at least send in police or a gosh darned meter maid to tell residents to flee. We're really lucky that nobody lost their lives. If there had been an invalid or somebody asleep in their home, they would have burned. We HAVE to do better than this. It's not right.
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