Steiner Ranch Fire

(This is what we saw coming into downtown on Monday night- this was part of the Bastrop fire that burned over 1500 structures)

This Sunday started out like any other.

Coming home from church we noticed smoke in the sky. It looked like it was over by our neighborhood. We kept turning corners and I thought maybe it is at the Oasis again. We got a little closer and realized, oh my this is in Steiner Ranch. We could see the fire and we were still able to pull into the first entrance. We pulled over and could not believe how big this was. We didnt want to be in the way so we went on home. I could see smoke and was a little uneasy but we had people coming over for dinner so I just started on that. I kept hearing sirens and seeing smoke. It was really weird outside. I was really getting worried but Tom wanted things to be as normal as possible. The kids were also getting nervous.

We lost power, our company said that they could not get in to Steiner. All roads were closed. Then I started getting text that said to evacuate.

This all got very crazy in a small amount of time.

I didnt pack anything as I was trying to finish our dinner and figure out what was going on.

I went outside and then the cop told us mandatory evacuation. We needed to get out right then.

I think that is when Tom realized what we had to do. The kids each got their blankets and I got the cat. Thats all we took with us. When we got to the end of our road and I saw how much smoke there was, I made Tom turn back to let me get my scrapbooks and computer.

Driving out of Steiner took almost 2 hours. It was unbelievable to just see homes going up in complete flames. Some of the homes just exploded.

It was such a surreal event happening right before our eyes. Just could not believe it.

So we were on our way to Uncle Chris' house for the night.

So the night turned into 2 days. We were glued to the TV and computer the entire time as we were getting updates on the fire and when we could go back home.

72 hour kit has a new meaning for us but we did just fine without them. We kept expecting to be able to go back home and then we would hear that no decision was going to be made until later. Steiner Ranch lost 24 homes completely and another 30 damaged. We felt bad for those that lost everything. Some literally had the back of their house on fire before they realized and they had to leave out the front with nothing with them.

We were thankful to have Uncle Chris' house to stay at. Yes, we had some fun while we were there.

Thank goodness Larson really does not smoke or drink but

I will admit that my family loves to play poker. They get it from their father's side of the family.

I always joked that if there was a fire, I would get the kids and my scrapbooks. Never did I really think that would actually be a day and to think that those are the things that we really did take with us. (well, not the kids, the scrapbooks)

It was so great to come back home and have a home to come back to!