Lucky man!! East Texas Wildfire gets Way to close to burning Vintage Fords.

Okay so Tuesday at 5 oclock I get off work and get a phone call that there is a bad fire within one mile of my house.

By the time I get home it is within 1/2 mile and the police are already telling me to evacuate immediately....Well the first thing I do is push all of my cars out of my shop and onto the concrete.





I figure I can repaint them, but if a beam falls on them it would be alot worse. I literally had enough time to push them out, and the fires were starting in my yard from pieces of ash dropping everywhere.

So I grab my dogs and computers, car titles, and important documents, and race out of my world that I have built. I knew everything would be a total loss because of my wood siding.

But thanks to the Fire Fighters who stayed with the 50 foot wall of flames, they saved everything. I lost three old dry rotten trailer tires.

Some of my neighbors within 500 yards weren't so lucky......

Here are the pics.



These are all behind my shop within 20 yards. Taken after they had controlled the fires and let us come home while they were trying to keep anymore from spreading.











Lucky for me I live on a small lake. Here is the Helicopters sucking up water to help put out the left over flames. My kids going nuts...They really didn't understand how crazy everything was, just thought it was cool to have a helicopter in their lake...











This is my land between my neighbors and I. This is where the firefighters couldn't stop it. They didn't get control until my house. Lucky I know...







And these are my neighbors houses all within 1/8 of a mile....







And this crazy picture was my closest neighbor who had some damage, but their cross is still standing......

 

speechless....

 

Its times like that it makes you believe someone is watching out for you and repaying you for good things you've done. Thank god for fearless firefighters and Sikorskys. Glad to hear your story had a happy ending.

 

One of the Helicopters had a Canadian flag on it....Glad you'all could lend her to us during our time of need.

 

Buy a lotto ticket man.

 

Wow. Man that is unreal, you must be living right!

 

Those hosers would fly those things anywhere for a paycheck!. It's a good chance I may have known some of them, that business is kind of a small world. I worked for 10 years overhauling the components on the S61 models like the Croman one there. They are pretty impressive machines when you are standing under one and its nearly blowing you down, looks like your boy was enjoying it!

 

Holy Cow...

 

You're right , you're one lucky SOB !! Glad to hear that you guys were spared .

 

Holy moly!

 

Shit is scary..... You need to shake EVERY firemans hand that you can..

 

If that should ever happen again roll those cars into the lake. Water is a pretty good safeguard against fire;-)

 

Looks like your luck is still holding! Glad you are ok.

 

Glad all is well

 

Amazing.

 

Wow, you and your family were very fortunate. It also looks like you had a 100' perimeter cleared around your place, which undoubtedly helped. I have a place up in the mountains and it's mandatory to have a 100' clearance around the dwelling.

 

Looks sad. Glad you made it through.

 

Wow glad things turned out on the good side for once.

 

I have a question. In this situation, would it have made a difference if you had an old fire department tanker with a pump and hose on your property just for this situation? There are always several on ebay for sale cheap and it would seem that it would be the perfect insurance policy in case of fire.

 

You are a lucky man.I feel bad for the neighbors.The pics got me thinkin,we live in the woods too.Thanks for the firefighters.Nice cars

 

Definitely being watched out for from above! Some are spared and some not and we never know why. You have been blessed this day.

 

I am cooking supper for 4 fire fighters from San Diego, CA tonight. I have meet fire fighters from Utah, New Mexico, Missouri, California, and all over Texas. They work in teams and are amazing, and I made sure everyone of them knew I appreciated them. If you notice in the one picture they are holding red cups with ice water, my boys brought them....

It would have been very smart to have an old tanker, but I thought living on a lake with alot of roads around me that I would be safe....Man was I wrong!!!!!!

 

yeah i agree, go buy a lotto ticket..

glad your stuff is safe, go buy that tanker!

 

This is pretty close to what I experienced in 2007 - asshole arsonist set a fire and we got mandatory evacuations - had to leave my collection of rare cars and parts in the steel barn. Firefighters stopped a 50ft wall of flame just the other side of the seasonal creek that runs 15 ft from the back of my barn. Some neighbors were not so lucky and we lost three houses a couple of doors down from me. The only reason my barn and it's contents was saved - firefighters had no clue what was in there - was that the very last hydrant in the line is right in front of my barn and the creek was a natural firebreak. It burned so hot out here that even the rocks were cooked - just crumbled into powder when you touched them.

Two days before last Christmas I was not so lucky as the torrential rains caused the hillsides to collapse, since the vegetation had not grown back enough to hold them. The creek filled with mud and burst it's banks coming right through my property. I lost two cars and we lost our road.

It certainly presses the reset button on what matters in life. Glad you were lucky - it's a sobering experience....

 

That's exactly what I was thinking! I think I would have done it too!

 

Hey Billy..Damn that was close..It did.nt get that close to me here but I couldnt have taken any photos the smoke was so thick...The Airtankers flew over my house for 3 days.dipping water from Lake O'the Pines here..They closed the lake to all boat traffic so as not to hinder the tankers..still a smoke odor in the air
today....

 

Billy:

Say your blessings . Alot of destruction around. Hope you can make something good about all of this.

V

 

You got lucky, your neighbors did not, trees too close to the houses. Read about URBAN INTERFACE for protecting your place even beter.

Also contact Gordon here for his experience with Gel. There is a home protection kit sold.

http://dakfire.com/index.php?page=about-us

 

Glad you and your family are okay! Good quick thinking too (getting everything moved)

 

That's too close for comfort. I think I would continue with what the fire did and keep thew brush thinned out to help keep if from happening again.