A Brave Story of Survival
For the first time I watched a documentary about the huge fire in California a few years ago. It swept a huge portion of California burning hundreds of homes one after the other like match sticks. People were panicking calling the fire department and being told that they did not have any one to dispatch to their home because not one firefighter was available to do that. All of them were trying to contain the fire so that it would not spread anymore. Many died in the fire unable to get away from it fast enough, one girl in the back of her car and many in their homes or near their houses. Then there were the people who survived it and lived to tell their stories of courage and of miracles. Those were for me the most beautiful stories of survival I had heard before and inspired me to write about what I heard and saw.
After many days running from the fire the husband of one of the couples returned to the area where he and she lived and found out that his home had survived. Suddenly right before his eyes the pool house section attached to the home lit on fire. In minutes it was going to blow up because near it was a large propane tank. The firefighters informed him that the tank would soon blow up and the valve could not be shut off as it was too hot. Somehow this man got to the valve, shut it off and got into a bulldozer to start to tear the pool house down so that it would not ignite the home. As he did this the firefighters poured water on him and around him and began to instruct him on what to do. As he told he story he cried and at the same time all I could experience was how courageous he was to do this mainly in his words for his family and the animals (horses, pigs, chickens) that ran away from the fire and ended up coming back completely unharmed.
In yet another situation a man and woman drove away from the fire only to find themselves in a billow of smoke. She could not see where she was driving and had not clue as to where the road was going anymore because she could not see it. Suddenly in front of her headlights a bobcat appeared. The first thing she thought was that she would follow him. They did just that and the bobcat lead them to safety by leading them down the road that was completely not visible to them but that the bobcat instinctively followed. This animal saved their life.
In one of the instances where things did not end well a brother returned to a home only to find out his sister and another person were dead inside. The brother was baffled by the report that his sister was with someone and thought "Who could be with her"? When he approached her body no one was there. It was not until later that he felt that the person the firefighter saw was likely an angel that was with her helping her to transition.
Fire investigators who at first simply thought the fire was ignited by natural causes like dry forestry and winds and heat find out that a man purposely started the fire when he became lost and scared in the woods so that he would be found. In fact he confessed to have started it with a bic lighter.
Like these stories of courage and sadness there were likely many. This documentary focused more on the survival and on the difficulties that were overcome in this horrible fire. It was really a story about how brave we can become in the face of adversity and pain. It was a story that teaches us that no matter what happens to us we are resilient and malleable. We get through it somehow and someway even when we believe we might not if it happened to us. Surprisingly we go into a place inside that we have never been before and we find the strength not only to make it but to go above it to a better place and a new appreciation. If we could only do this without going through a difficult and dangerous experience like this one. If we could only attain that kind of courage in daily life over the things that are going to happen to us because life does happen to us. If we could only look at life as precious and worthy of living fully every day without the anxiety and the predictions of failure and doom. If we could be like the brave men, women, children and animals that got through this fire. Somehow we can be and in many ways we are. We have to remember that.
After many days running from the fire the husband of one of the couples returned to the area where he and she lived and found out that his home had survived. Suddenly right before his eyes the pool house section attached to the home lit on fire. In minutes it was going to blow up because near it was a large propane tank. The firefighters informed him that the tank would soon blow up and the valve could not be shut off as it was too hot. Somehow this man got to the valve, shut it off and got into a bulldozer to start to tear the pool house down so that it would not ignite the home. As he did this the firefighters poured water on him and around him and began to instruct him on what to do. As he told he story he cried and at the same time all I could experience was how courageous he was to do this mainly in his words for his family and the animals (horses, pigs, chickens) that ran away from the fire and ended up coming back completely unharmed.
In yet another situation a man and woman drove away from the fire only to find themselves in a billow of smoke. She could not see where she was driving and had not clue as to where the road was going anymore because she could not see it. Suddenly in front of her headlights a bobcat appeared. The first thing she thought was that she would follow him. They did just that and the bobcat lead them to safety by leading them down the road that was completely not visible to them but that the bobcat instinctively followed. This animal saved their life.
In one of the instances where things did not end well a brother returned to a home only to find out his sister and another person were dead inside. The brother was baffled by the report that his sister was with someone and thought "Who could be with her"? When he approached her body no one was there. It was not until later that he felt that the person the firefighter saw was likely an angel that was with her helping her to transition.
Fire investigators who at first simply thought the fire was ignited by natural causes like dry forestry and winds and heat find out that a man purposely started the fire when he became lost and scared in the woods so that he would be found. In fact he confessed to have started it with a bic lighter.
Like these stories of courage and sadness there were likely many. This documentary focused more on the survival and on the difficulties that were overcome in this horrible fire. It was really a story about how brave we can become in the face of adversity and pain. It was a story that teaches us that no matter what happens to us we are resilient and malleable. We get through it somehow and someway even when we believe we might not if it happened to us. Surprisingly we go into a place inside that we have never been before and we find the strength not only to make it but to go above it to a better place and a new appreciation. If we could only do this without going through a difficult and dangerous experience like this one. If we could only attain that kind of courage in daily life over the things that are going to happen to us because life does happen to us. If we could only look at life as precious and worthy of living fully every day without the anxiety and the predictions of failure and doom. If we could be like the brave men, women, children and animals that got through this fire. Somehow we can be and in many ways we are. We have to remember that.
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