Fire on the Freeway

The Relief Society Pres has felt impressed to make little banana breads and plates of cookies to be delivered to some of the sisters in the ward.  I volunteered to help with deliveries and had Jenna with me as we drove around to deliver cookies.

 Two of the sisters we had delivered to live off the same exit as our friend Caroline.  So after we had finished delivering the cookies, we stopped by Caroline’s house to visit.  I think we were a bit closer than six feet apart but did keep our distance.

 We could hear the sirens and then followed by a noise between a “pop” and a “boom” – it didn’t sound like gunfire exactly, certainly not an explosion.  I still don’t know if it was related to the sirens or not, nor do I know what happened.  Caroline  said she could smell something resembling like burnt plastic. If I had gotten back on the freeway and headed south, driven through Canyonville and back through Riddle I would have missed the “stand still” traffic – but I didn’t know I5 had been turned into a parking lot until I was part of the non-moving traffic.

I had even pulled over to allow a firetruck to pass.  We didn’t know that we would see at least eight more emergency vehicles use the shoulder to pass the long line of trucks and cars.   We could see the smoke.  Black smoke to the west and white smoke to the east – or so it appeared.  Some drivers exited their vehicles and walked around in search of answers.  I don’t know if they ever came.  I watched three different news shows and there was no report.

 I don’t know how long those toward the front of the line had been waiting.  Jenna and I had only been a part of the line only twenty to thirty  minutes though it seemed longer as it was over 80 degrees outside.  I think the smelly smoke just added to the heat that was felt.  I don’t know if plastic was involved.  By the time we got pass the “source” it wasn’t identifiable.  According to this report which I found this morning, the remains had once been part of a motor home.  

rough example of where I think fire was.  Red line indicates
the area we were delivering cookies.  Purple path is alternative
of not using freeway.  Orange path shows path firetrucks had
to take in order to get to the fire.

This view was taken from above - I have no idea where the
photographer was standing.  I didn't know there were roads there

This is how the smoke appeared on the west side;  photo cropped from this link
 https://kobi5.com/news/i-5-temporarily-closed-north-of-canyonville-due-to-fire-128192/

Jenna took most of these.  I think I may have taken this first one

There were several cars between us and the ones in photograph

Taken from our car

I took this one of Jenna handing out paper
cranes she had made during our wait

after about 20 minutes or so

all of these vehicles had passed us on the shoulder

hard to believe it had been a motor home as this was all that remained