Well, got an e-mail with update and pictures from my brother last night. Looks like everyone is OK, and the missing cat came out from hiding. Thanks for your prayers everyone!~ Here's what he had to say:
"Well, things got a little hot in scenic San Martin yesterday! I'm emailing just to let everyone know that we're OK.
I was at work about 1120 and the 911 lines all lit up. Officers in the street radioed that there was a huge fire at the south end of town. Sandi called my cphone to tell me there was a fire next door to the house and I'd better get home. She'd been watering in one of the gardens when she heard an explosion at the old ranch next door to us to the north. She looked and saw a huge jet of smoke and flame shoot up into the sky. She called 911 and then me.
Pretty much before she could do anything, the fire was at our yard. She tried to get our dum dog, Yo Yo out of his kennel, but the heat and flames were too much for her. She burned her hand on the kennel gate but couldn't get it open. Yo Yo had run underneath a storeage shed where he maintains his burrow. There was nothing she could do.
Firefighters arrived and pulled into the yard to start laying hose. A passerby, "Mike" stopped and started helping round up our geese and ducks. All the cats were hiding.
I left the station and could immediately see a dark plume coming from the area of the house, about 2 miles away. Not a good sign. I got the the house in about a minute and couldn't see anything from the street. The barn was enclosed in smoke and flame and the house was just a shadow through the smoke. Fire was having the power lines cut down because they told me the barn and the house were going to go. They didn't think they could save them.
I started evacuating the ducks and geese. I tried to go back to the kennel, but couldn't get within 50'. The flames, smoke and heat were too much. I was sure Yo Yo was gone. I went into the house and couldn't even see across the rooms clearly, there was so much smoke. All the cats were hiding in or under the house! The only one we could get was Mr. Rumples. He's deaf, so he was just sleeping in his usual place, a doll baby buggy! He didn't have a clue anything was going on.
We got out of the house and stood by in the street, pretty upset. Not much you can say and nothing you can do. The pumper truck was running out of water and they were preparing to move back from the fire. The house and the barn appeared to be lost. The CDF helicopter was now on scene and dumping next to the barn. A chance!
A neighbor came running up to me to tell me that "Mike" was having a heart attack! The poor guy that stopped out of the goodness of his heart to help with our animals was paying for it in the worse way. I was sick and ran over to where they were loading him into an ambulance. I started crying and prayed harder and faster than I have almost ever before. He told me he was OK, he would be fine, but I just couldn't believe it. They closed the doors and off they went. It turned out that he had a heart condition that was exacerbated by the stress. They treated him gave him drugs and he was released within hours. Thank you, God!
Well, as Mom would say, "short story long" or "readers digress." The fire was under control by about 1:30 PM. I was able to go to Yo Yo's burrow and asked the firefighters to help pull him out so I could bury him before Sandi saw him. The area was still flaming, hot and smokey. The paint on the shed was melted and sometimes self igniting. They sprayed it down and one of them crawled over the embers and felt underneath. He felt dog and started to pull poor Yo Yo out. Suddenly, he lost the leg! Yo Yo pulled away from him. Dummy was still alive! We were able to get him out and I picked him up. He was muddy, smokey and had trouble breathing, but I could hear his heart and it sounded strong. He was scared to death almost and as docile as I've ever seen him. I carried him to an animal control truck and had them rush him to the vet while Sandi called ahead. They gave him O2 and antibiotics and it looks like he'll be OK. Thank you, God, for my dum dog!
The fire was finally out by 3:00 PM. It was probably started by an evicted tenant of my neighbor. We only lost a few hundred feet of fence, the kennel, maybe some stuff in the shed and some stuff in the corner of the barn. The firefighters were able to save both the barn and the house. My third: thank you, God. The smoke and soot in the house and barn are considerable, but I'm happy enough that's all it is.
Spent today cleaning up and talking to insurance people. Sandi is happy as can be and that makes me happy. The dog is still doing OK, but not out of the vet until Saturday. It all happened so fast that I'm still stunned. We keep the weeds, etc. down around the property all the time and have a fire retardent roof. The barn is almost all corigated metal. I guess all of this means not too much. I'm sure counting my blessings and saying prayers of thanks."