Spared!!

My hubby has some elderly cousins that live in California.  I can never remember exactly how they are related to us, but I think my hubby’s grandma and this man’s mother were sisters?  Anyway, they also have a cabin here in the mountains, and when they visit, they get a real kick out of seeing Claire.  Well, on Monday, we’d gotten word that their neighborhood was on fire in San Diego.  The house across the street was on fire, and they were evacuated.  That’s the last we’d heard.

Today, I called my hubby’s mom, and we have GOOD NEWS!!  Well, it’s good news for the cousins, and not so good news for some of their neighbors.  They went yesterday, via police escort, to see what was left.  The line to get in to their neighborhood was 3-hours long.  Apparently, the people in front of them took pity on them and let them cut ahead.  (They are both in – or close to – their 80s.)

Their house was spared!!  This is amazing.  The preliminary information we have is that three or four houses on their street are completely burned.  Their house didn’t sustain any damage, and their fence didn’t even melt!  (I guess it’s a newer “plastic” kind…)

I guess before they left, they had sprayed the house with the garden hose.  That kept the deck from catching on fire.  The house itself is stucco and the roof is tile.  Also, their house is a ranch-style home, and it looks as though the two-story houses around them caught the brunt of the embers (the size of basketballs!!).  The house next to theirs is also a ranch and was spared as well.

This is amazing, and we’re SO GLAD to hear this good news.  I can’t imagine the clean-up process to get things back to “normal,” but at least their house was spared.  My heart goes out to all those who weren’t so lucky…