Dym unoszacy sie w powietrzu, syreny strazy pozarnej wyjace w oddali i krwiste slonce na niebie.. Wszystko pokryte popiolem, dookola skrawki spalonych rzeczy, ktore wiatr roznosi po calym miescie. Brak pradu, telefon co 5 minut wysylajacy nowe powiadomienia o kolejnych ewakuajach. Paniczne pakowanie sie.. Twoj dobytek, twoje wspomienia, twoje cale zycie.. wszystko to zapakowac musisz w podreczna torbe i byc gotowym na ucieczke z domu... gigantyczne korki na ulicach w srodku nocy tworzone przez ludzi uciekajacych z domow...
I nagle, kilka godzin
pozniej, cale miasto obumiera. Pozamykane szkoly, firmy, sklepy. Puste ullice,
dookola brak zywego ducha. Tak jakby swiat sie nagle zatrzymal.. Pozostaja
tylko plomienie, ktore z niezwyciezona sila zmiataja z powierzchni ziemi
wszystko to, co natura i my ludzie budowalismy przez wieki.
Mija tydzien lub dwa,
pozar zostaje ugaszony a ludzie wracaja do codziennej rutyny. Niestety wielu z nich
tej rutyny zostalo pozbawionych.. Uszla razem z dymem...
W tym roku ogien byl
dosc daleko od naszego domu, Sonoma County byla swiadoma o mozliwosci powstania
pozaru co pozwolilo przygotowac sie do nadejscia katastofy. Sledzenie statystyk
pogodowych i zaplanowane ewakuacje przyczynily sie do ocalenia wielu domow,
nieruchomosci i ludzkich zyc.
Niestety 2 lata temu,
pozar uderzyl nasze miasto niespodziewanie w srodku nowy. Silne wiatry zerwaly
kilka lini elektrycznych, co wytworzylo ogien w kilku miejscach w Santa Rosa.
Wielomiesieczna susza pozwolila plomieniom rozprzestrzenic sie w
drastycznym tepie pozbawiajac zycia 22 osoby i rownajac z ziemia ponad 5000
nieruchomosci ( w tym wiele domow w Santa Rosa). Ja nigdy nie zapomne tej
nocy..
W niedziele 8go
listopada 2018 roku, pojechalismy z Darkiem butelkowac wino do Point Reyes do
naszego przyjaciela Kuby. Mielismy super dzien, W drodze powrotnej
zatrzymalismy sie na kolajce w restauracji. Wrocilismy do domu zmeczeni ale
szczesliwi. Rozpakowalismy skrzynki wina z samochodu, po czym otwierajac jedna
butelke poszlismy na ganek z przodu domu smakowac wino domowej roboty i milo
konczac dzen. Pamietam, ze oboje patrzylismy jak drzewa kladly sie od wiatru a
liscie tanczyly dookola. Wtedy jednak jeszcze nie wiedzielismy co oznacza
“sezon pozarowy” w Sonoma... Przed pojsciem do lozka zapytalam Darka czy czuje
dym, odpowiedzial mi, ze pewnie ktorys z sasiadow robi grilla.
Okolo 2 w nocy obudzil
nas telefon od naszgo sasiada, ktory oznajmil nam krotko I na temat: “W Santa
Rosa jest ogromny pozar, musimy uciekac z domu.” Zbieglismy z Darkiem na dol,
odslonilismy okno w salonie i ujrzelismy ogromna, czerwona lune rozswietlajaca
cale nasze sasiedztwo. Na poczatku nie mielismy pojecia co myslec. Czulam sie
troche jak w filmie. Czlowiek zadawal sobie phytanie “czy to sie dzieje
naprawde?” Ogien moze rozprzestrzenic sie tak szybko zeby spalic nasz dom?!
Wyszlismy na zewnatrz, nasi sasiedzi juz sie pakowali.. W oddali slychac bylo
silne wybuchy. Palilo sie wtedy cale osiedle domow jednorodzinnych oddalonych
od nas 5 minut samochodem. Wpadajac w panike zabralismy wszystkie
dokumenty i pieniadze, ktore mielismy w domu, komputer i kilka zdjec. Pakujac
sie w dwa samochody ucieklismy do Darka pracy oddalonej od Naszego domu 15
minut. Dotarcie tam zajelo nam ponad 2 godziny z powodu korkow,.. To tam
przecszekalismy najgorsze. Kiedy wzeszlo slonce a ulice uluznily sie od samochodow,
postanowilismy wrocic do domu I czekac na dalsze wiesci.
Z tego co pamietam,
ponad tydzien zajelo im aby ugasic ten pozar... Mielismy ogromne szczescie I nie
stracilismy naszego domu ani dwa lata temu ani w tym roku. Jiestety jedni z
naszych bliskich przyjaciol tak.. 2 lata temu obudzili sie widzac zywe
plomienie przekraczajace ich podworko.. Mieli tylko czas na zabranie swoich
zwierzakow I ucieczke… Na szczescie nic im sie nie stalo a na dzien zisiejszy
maja juz swoje wlasne, nowe miejsce na ziemi i sa bardzo szczesliwi.
Wierze, ze na swiecie
jest wielu madrych ludzi i mam nadzieje, ze uda im sie szybko wymyslic sposob,
aby zapobiec tym katastrofom w przyszlosci. Na dzien dzisiejszy chce
powiedziec, ze jestem sercem ze wszystkimi, ktorzy byli dotknieci pozarem
w jakikolwiek sposob.
"Bo milosc w powietrzu jest gestrza niz dym" - #sonomastrong
***
Smoke floating in the air, fire sirens howling in the background and bloody sun on the sky. Everything covered with ash, scraps of burnt things around that wind spreads throughout the city. No electricity, phone every 5 minutes sending new notifications about subsequent evacuations. Panic packing... Your belongings, your memories, your whole life... you have to pack everything in a handbag and be ready to escape from home. Giant traffic jams in the streets in the middle of the night created by people escaping from theirs homes ...
And suddenly, a few hours later, the whole city stays still. Closed schools, companies, stores. Empty streets, no living spirit around. As if the world stopped suddenly... Only flames remain that sweep away the city with everything that nature and we humans have built up for centuries.
A week or two passes, the fire is contained and people return to their daily routine. Unfortunately, many of them were deprived of this routine ... It burned down in flames...
This year, the fire was quite far from our home. Sonoma County was aware of the possibility of a fire, which allowed them to prepare for the arrival of the cadastre. Tracking weather statistics and scheduled evacuations have helped save many homes, properties and human lives.
Unfortunately 2 years ago, a fire hit our city unexpectedly in the middle of the night. Strong winds broke several power lines, which created fire in several places in Santa Rosa. The months of drought have allowed the flames to spread dramatically, killing 22 people and destroying over 5,000 properties (including many homes in Santa Rosa). I will never forget that night...
On Sunday, November 8, 2018, Darek and I went to bottle our homemade wine to Point Reyes to our friend's Kuba. We had a great day, on the way back we stopped for dinner at the restaurant. We came back home tired but happy. We unpacked the wine boxes from the car, then, opening one bottle, we went to the porch at the front of the house to taste homemade wine and finish the day nicely. I remember we both watched the trees being crazy from the wind and the leaves danced around. However, at that time, we didn't know what the "fire season" in Sonoma meant... Before we went to bed I asked Darek if he could smell smoke, he told me that probably one of the neighbors is doing barbecue.
About 2 o'clock in the morning we were woken up by a phone call from our neighbor, who told us briefly: "Santa Rosa is on huge fire, we must leave homes NOW." At the beginning we had no idea what to think. I felt a bit like in a movie. I was asking myself "Is this really happening?" The fire can spread so quickly to burn our house ?! We went outside, our neighbors were already packing ... Strong explosions could be heard in the distance. At that time, the entire Coffee Park Neighbourhood was burning down - 5 minutes away from our house. Panicking, we took all the documents and money we had at home, a computer and few photos. Packing in two cars we escaped to Darek's work 15 minutes away from our home. It took us over 2 hours to get there because of traffic. there When the sun came up and the streets were free of cars, we decided to go back home and wait for more news.
From what I remember, it took them over a week to put out the fire... We were very lucky and we didn't lose our home two years ago or this year. Unfortunately, one of our close friends did. 2 years ago they woke up seeing a flames crossing their backyard. They only had time to take their pets and escape ... Fortunately, nothing happened to them and today they have their own new place on earth and they are very happy.
I believe that there are many wise people in the world and I hope that they will quickly come up with a way to prevent these disasters in the future. As of today, I want to say that my heart goes to those who were affected by fire in any way.
"Because love in the air is thicker than smoke" - #sonomastrong
***
Smoke floating in the air, fire sirens howling in the background and bloody sun on the sky. Everything covered with ash, scraps of burnt things around that wind spreads throughout the city. No electricity, phone every 5 minutes sending new notifications about subsequent evacuations. Panic packing... Your belongings, your memories, your whole life... you have to pack everything in a handbag and be ready to escape from home. Giant traffic jams in the streets in the middle of the night created by people escaping from theirs homes ...
And suddenly, a few hours later, the whole city stays still. Closed schools, companies, stores. Empty streets, no living spirit around. As if the world stopped suddenly... Only flames remain that sweep away the city with everything that nature and we humans have built up for centuries.
A week or two passes, the fire is contained and people return to their daily routine. Unfortunately, many of them were deprived of this routine ... It burned down in flames...
This year, the fire was quite far from our home. Sonoma County was aware of the possibility of a fire, which allowed them to prepare for the arrival of the cadastre. Tracking weather statistics and scheduled evacuations have helped save many homes, properties and human lives.
Unfortunately 2 years ago, a fire hit our city unexpectedly in the middle of the night. Strong winds broke several power lines, which created fire in several places in Santa Rosa. The months of drought have allowed the flames to spread dramatically, killing 22 people and destroying over 5,000 properties (including many homes in Santa Rosa). I will never forget that night...
On Sunday, November 8, 2018, Darek and I went to bottle our homemade wine to Point Reyes to our friend's Kuba. We had a great day, on the way back we stopped for dinner at the restaurant. We came back home tired but happy. We unpacked the wine boxes from the car, then, opening one bottle, we went to the porch at the front of the house to taste homemade wine and finish the day nicely. I remember we both watched the trees being crazy from the wind and the leaves danced around. However, at that time, we didn't know what the "fire season" in Sonoma meant... Before we went to bed I asked Darek if he could smell smoke, he told me that probably one of the neighbors is doing barbecue.
About 2 o'clock in the morning we were woken up by a phone call from our neighbor, who told us briefly: "Santa Rosa is on huge fire, we must leave homes NOW." At the beginning we had no idea what to think. I felt a bit like in a movie. I was asking myself "Is this really happening?" The fire can spread so quickly to burn our house ?! We went outside, our neighbors were already packing ... Strong explosions could be heard in the distance. At that time, the entire Coffee Park Neighbourhood was burning down - 5 minutes away from our house. Panicking, we took all the documents and money we had at home, a computer and few photos. Packing in two cars we escaped to Darek's work 15 minutes away from our home. It took us over 2 hours to get there because of traffic. there When the sun came up and the streets were free of cars, we decided to go back home and wait for more news.
From what I remember, it took them over a week to put out the fire... We were very lucky and we didn't lose our home two years ago or this year. Unfortunately, one of our close friends did. 2 years ago they woke up seeing a flames crossing their backyard. They only had time to take their pets and escape ... Fortunately, nothing happened to them and today they have their own new place on earth and they are very happy.
I believe that there are many wise people in the world and I hope that they will quickly come up with a way to prevent these disasters in the future. As of today, I want to say that my heart goes to those who were affected by fire in any way.
"Because love in the air is thicker than smoke" - #sonomastrong
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