Arizona - Back home meeting our neighbors in a sad way...

Our return to the desert of Arizona was almost uneventful.  We arrived at the long term lot, BlueSky Airport Parking, to find the batteries in the truck were dead!
Evidently in our hurry to get to the airport, we left something on inside... not sure what.  The guys at  Blue Sky were great in bringing over one of the transport vans to provide us a jump.


Back home to the RV park.   A couple of days of resting up and meeting all of our new neighbors took place over the first few days back.

Then early Friday morning, about 4:30, we heard an unusual 'popping' sound.  I looked out our bedroom window and saw this...

We could hear sirens and the fire trucks arriving.  We tossed on some clothes and went outside.  I obviously grabbed my camera, but only after the firemen were putting water on it.  The flames were shooting several feet up into the air when we first saw it.  I just couldn't stand there and take photos of someone's life going up in flames.  It was heartbreaking.

We are tucked into a corner in the park.  While it's fairly private and secluded,  it's also secluded, and surrounded by palms and other bushes.  The other two RV couples were anxious about their rigs as well.

The couple and their two dogs got out ok, with basically the clothes they tossed on.  The dogs woke them up.  When the dogs wouldn't settle down, the owner thought she could hear water running, and stepped outside to see where it was coming from. She could see flames coming out the top of the roof in the vicinity of the refrigerator.  She yelled fire, and ran back to get her husband.  She was able to get her purse, cell phone, iPad and the dogs.  Her husband grabbed his pants, which fortunately had his wallet in them, and a t shirt.  He was also able to unplug the electric cable and remove the propane tank, an 'extended stay' one.  Thank goodness he did that or we most certainly would have had an explosion.

The Bighorn rig to the right of the Tour sustained a fair amount of damage.  The whole side is scorched, the awning is very crispy and brown and the AC unit on the top is all twisted and melted.  Another few minutes and we might have had a bigger disaster.

We had had on our 'list' for our next shopping trip, a new smoke alarm as ours had been going off when I wasn't even cooking, or it was sitting on the counter.  Rest assured, the new one was up and is in place just outside our bedroom entrance. It's been a tough way to meet our neighbors, but we're all working together to help these two get back on their feet.