Lillooet Fire Evacuation Alert

Last night was just way too scary!  A friend, who lives in town, called and said she got a knock on her door that all of Lillooet was under an evacuation alert.  The Mt. McLean fire, which has now been burning for the last nine days, came back down the mountain directly above town and really flared up.  I flashed back over to Dallas, who I had been talking with on the phone, and my heart leapt in my throat.  Visions of the massive 1972 Lillooet fire, when I was a kid, quickly flashed in my mind.  I knew I had to get to town.


Sydney and I sat down at Bridgeside Mill, near the bridge heading into town, and I grabbed my camera.  The flames were huge and shocking.



We were there between 11 PM and almost midnight and people were everywhere, fire sure makes people nervous, including me!  The evacuation alert is still in effect today (July 31 2009) and thunder and high winds are predicted this afternoon, not good.



I kept in constant contact with Dallas by cell, as they were readying things up and ready to move at a moment's notice.



Yesterday afternoon I registered the skidder with the Ministry of Forests and within a few hours they called and wanted the machine on standby, on a lowbed, ready to roll by 10 AM in the morning.  Roadrunner Contracting came out this morning and whisked it away tootsweet.  Hubby has put a 600 gallon water tank on it and I'm sort of wishing that it was still in our driveway and not sitting in town waiting.  The tank looks pretty beat up but no leaks :)



Lillooet, and the whole province, really needs rain with no lightning and thunder... c'mon just give us a downpour for even a day!  Unfortunately the weather predicted doesn't have that in it's future but we all know the weather people can be wrong.

For more pictures of last night's fire visit my flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kansasa