I’ve never written about my “old life” on my blog. After all, this has been a decorating and refinishing site. It never seemed relevant to reference my previous work experience or talk about what I used to do. 

But, today is just the day to share a little bit about my pre-knot too shabby life.

You see, this morning at around 6:00, we were awoken to a barrage of sirens and helicopters flying so close that the house shook when they were overhead. A little while later, my husband yelled from the bathroom, “DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THAT?” He had the radio on and heard about the fire. 

 We headed outside to see what the fuss was about. That was the view from my front porch.

You could see flames from our house of the beautiful Foothills (much more vivid than pictured).

It’s been over six years since I quite my job to stay home with the kids. When I hear the fire engines, see the smoke and listen to the radio, six years later, I have a pang of longing to go back to work.

That’s me, in uniform

I used to work for the Anaheim Fire Department in the Emergency Services Office. I managed and trained city volunteers in disaster response (CERT). I trained city employees, community members, teachers, business owners and even kids. Together with fire fighters, police officers and other professionals, we had an extensive crew of volunteers who were trained to help coordinate emergency events. 

In 2007, I  responded to the Command Post for the Santiago Canyon Wildfire. I remember getting the phone call at about midnight that responders and volunteers were being activated. I was in my home office, calling volunteers to respond to the event with a 9-month old sitting on my lap wondering what on earth we were doing up at 2:00 am. 

Then, I loaded up my gear to head to the Command Post for 12-hour shifts. My gear included a fire jacket, uniform, badge and breast pump. 

Amidst the chaos of fire, an event like that was what we all trained to respond too. There was an excitement and anticipation to put training to use and be involved in the response effort.

So, as I hear sirens this morning, see flames licking away at the foothills and hear about the Middle School being closed to be used as the Command Post, I have this odd longing to go check it all out. 

Instead, I’m checking it out from a distance…so to speak. 

Literally, watching someones house burn just a few short blocks from knot too shabby. 

I know many people who have been evacuated from the hundreds of homes surrounding north Glendora. A fair amount of our city has been displaced today, and some will return to nothing but ashes. 

Please pray for the first responders, that they escape injury and for those who have lost their homes. And, pray for a relief in the abnormal hot weather we are having. We are expecting mid-80 degree temps today with high winds this afternoon. Ideal conditions for a fire storm.