LAST EDITED ON Jul-01-07 AT 09:01PM (MST)[p]Well...we're going ahead w/the celebration. The firefighters certainly don't want us to stop and they're actually very accommodating and want us to be able to have it. Our committee doesn't want to be in their way, either though. The biggest problem is that they need the space. They're camped out at the elementary school, have pretty much taken over the school (and OMG it's AMAZING the organization and logistics that go into fighting a Type 1 fire), but they're maxed out on space, need our park/rodeo grounds area and the school is RIGHT NEXT to the park where we're having this celebration. We've told them they can have it and if they want us to, we'll cancel in a heartbeat, but that's not what they want and are positive that we can work together.
There are concerns on both parts, but we have cancelled some of our events, we're urging people to carpool and enter Neola from the West and stay off the main road the firefighters are using. We are also going to be parking Nazis and make sure people don't park on the highway and only park in designated areas.
We're expecting about 1,000 people in here on Tuesday night though. There are about 2,000 people over at the school with the fire effort and fire trucks, hot shot crew trucks, busses, big trucks and all kinds of traffic going in and out all day long at the school and past the rodeo grounds/community park. It's going to be CRAZY. I just hope it all works out. We re-routed the parade to stay out of their way, but I don't know. I think we should've cancelled that part, but most other committee members didn't think so.
I just got back from talking to all the TV news stations, gave them our little press release and one guy said, "Oh wow...that's gonna be a big cluster-you-know-what." lol But, nobody really wants us to cancel it all. We'll just work together to find a way to have it.
The fire has now grown to over 30,000 acres and is raging up into the forest now, to the North. Five homes were destroyed and there could be more. They aren't letting people back into their homes just yet. THey'll take about 16 homeowners into their homes in the Farm Creek area tonight for a few minutes to get stuff (meat, things from freezers that have probably all gone bad already), but they can't go home even though they're just mopping up and think the fire has pretty much burned itself out in that area (it's pretty much out of fuel there). There is no power though so they're not letting t hem stay. Some folks thinks that's B.S. because the've got generators and could live just fine, but Sherriff Merrel says "No".
I think the communities are out of danger at this point, but it's still a big, bad fire. There is ALOT of fuel for it right now. Old, dry, beetle kill pines and downed timber. It will take a while before it's out.