My First Glimpse of Smoke

Wednesday, July 29, 2015 - Lower Lake, California

I was coming from Kelseyville when I caught my first glimpse of smoke. I was heading down the Glasgow grade to Lower Lake and I could tell it was too close for comfort.

I took my first photo of the fire at 3:37pm while waiting at the intersection of Hwy 53 and Hwy 29 in Lower Lake. The First Responders were already on their way.

I was instantly worried since we had just experienced a fire on Sunday (7/26) on Bryant Road in Lower Lake.

Plus it was 103 degrees outside. 

Not a good day for a fire!

I took my third picture at 3:53pm behind the Social Services building on Main Street and posted it on Facebook. It just seemed like the thing to do. 

I would later become quite reliant on Facebook to communicate and receive communication about the fire. On the Scanner Lake County rocks!

I left work and headed to my home on Big Bear Road. This is what I drove towards at 4:57pm on my usual route home on Main Street.

I parked my car at home and started walking up the road to see what was going on. I took this photo as I walked across the street and looked toward the fire at 5:08pm.

I met up with my neighbor Chris who was watching the fire. We were both by how massive and close it seemed. This is when I realized I had a "looming giant in my backyard!"

This photo was taken at 5:11pm. Was it really be moving in our direction?

Here's more pictures of how things progressed. 

We were eventually put on mandatory evacuation since it was apparently moving towards us. 

Thankfully those amazing firefighters attacked it with everything they had and we never left.

Here's a planes battling the growing fire at 6:10pm.

Watching planes dropping fire retardant at 6:32pm.

Vehicles driving down our road at 5:51pm.

The fire continues to burn hot at 10:54 pm.

Still watching at 11:24 pm.