Jim, Rome is burning…

Well, maybe not Rome, but Palm Bay, Florida.  And I am right in the middle of it. 

Around noon today, I got a call from my son who lives across the street from Bayside High in Palm Bay.  Just after midnight, a friend of ours, Butch Van Fleet, had his home of 25 years totally destroyed by wild fires.  And my son was frantically watering down his roof because the flames were getting close.

He and his wife live across the street from Bayside High School in Palm Bay in a home they just had build and moved into in January. By 2pm, things were getting desperate. The fire fighters and police started evacuating the neighborhood, even as Sean was frantically putting out fires in his front and back yard.  His neighbor’s wooden fence was already burning and 30-MPH winds whipped the flames very close to my son’s house. 

I was trying to get to him to help him evacuate, but road blocks prevented entry to the area, as Bayside High was being evacuated.

So, tonight, the family is all safe, but smoky and slightly singed, and sleeping with the exhaustion of an all-day adrenaline rush.