Yesterday, when we left at 6:07AM, I really envisioned this evacuation not lasting longer than a few days, maybe 3 at the most. As I continued to get updates throughout the day, I realized the situation is a whole lot dire than anticipated. If it spills or even blows up,(the only two options according to the fire chief), it’s probably not safe to be back at my house for a while.
I was blessed enough to have a friend allow us to stay the night. I would have gone to my parents’ but they were pretty close to the perimeter of the evacuation zone and decided to leave the premises as well. Kai was still good overall and slept pretty well despite being in a new setting.
I think we were both pretty tired, but also had high anxiety from this event. Unlike COVID, where we were at least able to quarantine at home, this is a whole new situation being displaced from our home. This is also technically the “start of summer” for me, and what a crazy start it was. Totally upending and changing out plans. But I’m grateful enough to have the best wife by my side through it all.
This morning, I decided to take a risk and go back to my house in order to grab more essential supplies. Obviously the street was blocked off, so I had to park at a local middle school and run around with a baby stroller to be able to store supplies in it. The police officer stopped me and alerted me that if I were to go he was warning me that it was in the blast radius and that I could not sue the Garden Grove police department in the event that I was harmed. He also said there would be more mean cops down there who might not allow me to go (luckily I didn’t encounter any). I decided to take the risk anyway for Kai and my family. It was definitely a mission running around with a baby stroller and packing as many supplies as possible in a quick time period. In case of it blowing, I had to be as quick and efficient as possible. I was sweating the whole time and racing against the clock, basically feeling my own adrenaline pump me through the whole thing, but also feeling like I was in an episode of 24. If you asked me if I could have done it many years ago, probably not. But family life has changed me to where I am willing to take those greater risks for Kai. When I got back I thanked the officer who asked me if it was worth it, and if the blast had go off, the baby would have been without a father. I’m very thankful it didn’t.
Upon getting back, I learned that the towers which they said were cooled, were actually increasing in temperature internally each hour (the drones were only measuring the external temperatures). I’m just lucky nothing exploded while I was in the blast radius.
