The view from our home. See the contour lines where the fire destroyed everything. There were friends' homes there. All gone - nothing except chimneys. Nothing to find in the ashes. The fire was so hot it melted some foundations. The winds were up to 100 miles per hour, the flames were 100 feet high in some places. The fire had its own weather, and there were fire tornados within the hellish fire. There were 28 homes in our neighborhood alone, and hundreds of others. It was literally hell on earth. Our home was untouched, with smoke damage only. One couple chose to stay in their home and they perished, They could have escaped with fire fighters there to escort them through the flames. But, other than that there were no injuries! No deaths, all livestock were saved. There had to be massive loss of wildlife though. We haven't seen our raccoons yet. But, our friends down the road did have a herd of elk in their yard. Lots of people have banners up saying thank you to the firefighters and first responders. We were prepared and I had one car loaded with things we love and the other with things we needed. Of course, I didn't pack all the right things, and forgot to pack all the home videos and our favorite family Christmas ornaments. I forgot to pack jackets, and toothbrushes and all kinds of necessities. I had made a list of things to pack in use of an evacuation. without that I would have forgotten much more. It's a great idea to make a list and keep it posted where you can grab it in an instant. Your mind will not work well when you are in a drastic situation like a fire! Our insurance is paying for all our cleanup of the house, textiles. They could not clean our living room furniture to where the smoke odor was soaked into the fibers. We ended up having to get new furniture, and I cried when the carried out the old couches. Crazy. You go through so many emotions and we didn't even lose our home.