We are so thankful for and blessed to have an outstanding Volunteer Fire Dept. The feeling was eerie without a doubt. Ryan and I had rescheduled our Benefit Sale for the weekend of April 4th and had had a wonderful turnout that morning. We could smell smoke from a distance starting around noon. But at that point it just smelled like some one had a campfire. We could hear on the scanner that there was a fire under control, for the most part, 14 miles south west of town. Where it became scary and out of control for the firefighters, was when a tumbleweed would get caught in it or the fire consumed a bush where quail were living... the birds would catch on fire and where ever their wings would touch it would start another one. The wind gusts were above 65 mph and in all the conditions it quickly got out of control. Amidst all the commotion, people were still shopping as well as cautiously watching the smoke get closer. Around 3:30 you could tell something was wrong... very wrong..... At that point, the fire marshall began driving down the streets, knocking on doors, honking, and yelling to get out of town QUICKLY!!!!! We met my Mom, Glenda, at our house, grabbed Ryan's medicine and headed out. We stopped at the school, on the North end of town, to get a fast game plan. The sky was a red orange color with dark black gray smokey clouds billowing out!!!! We quickly decided to take Hwy 152 East and head to Elk City, Oklahoma. As we traveled, hearts pounding, adrenaline pumping we managed to call as many people as we could think of to begin praying for our town and the firefighters and their safety. We also stayed in touch with Ryan's boss and wife to see what was happening. To make a long story short we were finally able to return to a very blessed town around 9:45 that night. On 83 heading between Shamrock and Wheeler, the road was lined with fire trucks, water trucks and you could see huge blazes on either side. There were 8 houses damaged... 3 were total losses and 5 had severe to mild damage. In the midst of everything we managed to have a successful garage sale . We thank the LORD for everything!!!!
