FIRE!!!

Today brought more excitement than we had bargained for. Shortly after 2:00 p.m.one of the campground owners pounded on our door and told us we were under a "preliminary evacuation order" because of a fire a few hundred yards from our campground. (Thank goodness we were in the RV and not out fishing or sightseeing!) We were instructed to be ready to leave at a moment's notice if the fire could not be contained. 

We sprang into action! While John warmed up the Volvo, unhooked the water, electricity, etc. and stowed the awnings, I put away computers, pulled in the slides and got ready to move out. In about 20 minutes, we were hooked up and ready to roll. For the next couple of hours we stood around with our fellow campers and watched the helicopter fly back and forth between the fire and the lakes in nearby Custer State Park where they were scooping up buckets of water and dumping them on the flames.

 Here is a shot over our neighbor's RV of the chopper dropping its load of water...

and flying away to get more.

Thank goodness the order to evacuate never came. Thanks to the quick response of the Custer firefighters and forest service personnel, the fire was brought under control. We were fortunate that the fire was north of our campground and the stiff breeze that fanned it was from the south, so it was moving away from us. By 5:00 p.m. we were told that the fire was officially under control and we could resume normal activities. Our good friends, Mike and Pat McFall who live only a few miles from our campground, graciously offered to put us up if we needed to evacuate.  We were very glad we didn't need to take them up on their offer.   

After the all-clear was given, we drove out the gates of the campground and saw firefighters working to put out any  "hot spots" that remained. In this photo you can see the smoke through the trees from our vantage point on the road.  It was only then that we realized how very close the fire was to our camp...only 500 yards or so!  There is a rocky ridge between the fire site and our campground, so we really couldn't see what was happening from our RV site.

Shortly after, a light rain shower passed over, and we saw these beautiful rainbows. They were comforting to say the least! 

Thank you, God!