Driving to Talkeetna

Several days ago, when we were in Seward and the winds were so bad, a tree fell on an electric line between Anchorage and Talkeetna and started a huge fire.  It was similar in many ways to the fire in our canyon as it was a hot, dry day with excessive winds and a very high fire danger - all of the elements for a devastating fire.

We had been keeping close track of the fire since the road to our next stop went right through the fire-affected area.  At one point,since the fire jumped the road, the whole road was closed down, but then they opened one lane to follow by pilot car.  Yesterday it was taking an hour per trip (two hours for each line to move) and they were only letting 50 cars pass because the smoke was so bad.  Luckily, although we still were only in one lane, the wait was less long and the smoke was not nearly as bad.

Still the remnants of the fire were on full display.  There were still huge puffs of smoke, and sometimes we would see a small area that had come back to life and was flaming in a major way.  The wind had calmed down, however, and therefore, many of the fire fighters were able to get much of the fire under control.

This puff of smoke suddenly came up as we rounded the corner

The lodge at Sheep Creek was totally destroyed as were many cars and structures.  So far 50 structures have been lost but to our knowledge, no lives have been lost.  Apparently, families had time to evacuate . . . but many have nothing left.

I do not know how one recovers from such devastation.  I realize they just lost things - I think even all of the pets have survived - but when everything one owns goes up in flames, putting a life back together would be a huge challenge.