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My younger brother lived alone in Paradise, CA and could see the smoke and orange glow from the fires several miles away when he was told it was spreading rapidly his way and he had one hour to evacuate. He packed what he thought was most important into one of his two cars and fled through thick smoke, high winds, and blowing ash and embers. He said he could see fires within a hundred yards of the road, but at least the flames were not yet right at the roadside as others encountered in several videos. As he drove out the main road in and out of the town, he passed by the school where he taught second-grade reading collapsing and totally engulfed in flames. His entire home and all his other possessions, including his other car were completely destroyed only another few hours later. He's been able to contact (cell phone) many of his friends who scattered to surrounding towns, but gets no answer from several others, so of course he fears the worst. He now has no home and essentially no income, and will move in temporarily with his daughter's family in Sacramento while awaiting insurance resolution. Then he faces the huge decisions about where to live and how to find another job. His wife of 35 years passed away (colorectal cancer) two years ago, and a fledgling business investment failed last year, so he's lost some of the major pillars of a life: a spouse, a home, a career, a place to worship, and a semblance of financial security for the future. What a staggering series of losses for a really good guy. And stories like his are sure to be echoed among the other 27,000 people in the totally destroyed town. It's one thing to see a tragedy like this strike people that you don't know (like the current fires in southern California), but it's totally different when it happens to a loved one - it sure changed my own viewpoint in the space of a few hours. Ray Melton Las Cruces, NM On 11/12/2018 7:47 PM, doug warrener
2HsandaHeritage@xxxxxxxxxxx [Chrysler300] wrote:
__._,_.___ Posted by: Ray Melton <rfmelton@xxxxxxx> To send a message to this group, send an email to: Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx or go to https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/all/manage/edit For list server instructions, go to http://www.chrysler300club.com/yahoolist/inst.htm For archives go to http://www.forwardlook.net/300-archive/search.htm#querylang __,_._,___ |
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