So we had a bit of an interesting weekend. My sisters-in-law and niece were visiting, and as my niece and I returned home from watching a movie, we saw a giant plume of smoke about 12 miles east of Roanoke. It looked like it was coming from near where we live, but there was no way to tell at that distance. As we drove closer, I started to realize that it was near our house. When I finally got to our neighborhood, it was a bit too close for comfort. I couldn't see flames, but there was smoke rising as if from a volcanic crater about a mile from our house. I called the sheriff's office - no evacuations, everything's fine, stay calm.

So we stayed calm. We made dinner, had some sundaes for dessert. By then it had grown dark outside. For some reason I thought to go to the front window and have a look. The entire mountain ridge to the north and east of our house was completely in flames. The sky was aglow in a hellish orange; trees were spontaneously bursting into flames. It was completely surreal. I grabbed the phone, walked out in the front yard, and called the police again. Yes, they said, the fire has grown, still no evacuations, remain calm. Emergency personnel will come and get you when it is time.


The Blue Ridge Fire from the front yard. The white speck in the lower middle right of the picture is our mailbox.

Inside my head, I started to freak out. I had to balance this, though, with the reality that a five-year-old was in the house. That being said, Janelle and I both felt the need to form a plan. What do we take? We decided we needed all of our financial papers, insurance, passports, etc. The cats. Some clothes. Wedding pictures. I stuffed as much stuff as quickly and calmly as I could into three giant Rubbermaid containers. I put them in the truck and waited. I paced outside. I called the neighbors. They were playing board games and trying to forget that there was a massive inferno outside their front door. I called guys from work. They didn't even know the fire was happening. They lived on the other side of town.

Janelle's sisters and our niece went to bed. I finally got Janelle to go to bed around 11:30. I decided to stay on the couch downstairs in case someone came around to get us. I didn't want to sleep through that. Meanwhile, I stayed up most of the night looking out the window every few minutes. Helicopters kept flying over with giant buckets of water or chemicals - I couldn't be sure - swaying heavily underneath. Chainsaws buzzed incessantly in the distance. The fire died down on the north ridge and by 4:00am, only the east ridge was visibly alight. The fire cut a giant 'V' down the side of the mountain. Around 4:30 I started getting ready for work. When I left, I woke up Janelle to tell her things had died down.

I got to work around 5:15. When I arrived, the third shift guy was looking out one of the corner offices towards the east. The fire was clearly visible 15 miles away.

"Did you hear about the fire?" he asked.

By this morning (Monday), it had grown to over 1,400 acres. Rain and snow this morning helped to keep it from growing further. It's still raining now, and that can't hurt.