Reno Fire

This was taken at about 4:30 Friday morning. The winds were 35 and 40 miles an hour, sustained, with gusts far worse. That our fire fighters managed to save 4500 homes is amazing in conditions like that. Fortunately, the fire was on the other side of town from us, but we live in a similar urban-wild lands interface space. It could have just as easily been our neighborhood. In all, we lost 15 homes, another 40 are damaged to various extents and lost a few thousand acres, including some beautiful regional park acreage. Over 10,000 people were evacuated. Its mind boggling really. Through the Herculean efforts of our fire fighters, the fire is all but fully contained. We lost one elderly gentleman to a heart attack during the late night evacuation, but otherwise no lives were lost and injuries were few. They deserve our sincerest thanks for putting their lives at risk to save so many others'. One lesson we have definitely taken to heart is our desperate need for a plan in case of emergencies. Mr Shawn and I are putting together a semi formal plan that I will share with you when we get it all wrapped up. Hopefully it will inspire you to do the same.

On a more personal note, the little dinner gala of 350 that was scheduled for Friday night? It was postponed in consideration of the state of emergency that was declared and the impact the fire was having on the community. It was not a night to be celebrating and our Chairman, Brian Krolicki Lt Governor of Nevada, made the difficult decision that none of us wanted to make and informed us and our guests with grace, despite the chaos of the fire situation that he was in the midst of helping manage. So, we shall reschedule and the show will go on at a later date. The upside, all of the hard work is pretty much done. The programs and other print material I designed for the event will only need minimal updating. We kind of got a dress rehearsal of sorts, which will probably lead to some changes when we do finally get to put on the event. I was looking forward to sharing the culmination of everyone's amazing efforts. Instead, I will be getting back to doing some Christmas crafting and sharing our decor as we head into the holidays. 

My prayers are with the families that have lost their homes and some of my future efforts will go to aiding the various charities in Reno assist them in having the best holidays they possibly can, despite the tragedy of losing their homes. May we all remember to think of those less fortunate.