Kylee DeBock – DeBock Harvesting
Thursday after work, I excitedly headed home to pack my bags for the HarvestHER Wellness Retreat.
I had several outfits set out and, not being sure of what I needed, I texted Tracy to make sure what attire I would need. She messaged back to “just be comfortable”. I went outside to get something out of the camper and noticed all the smoke. I found my husband and asked his thoughts on what we needed to do. He assured me that the winds were blowing in our favor and everything would be fine…that was about 5:00. So, I went on with my evening. I was packed and ready to go, had my bag sitting by the front door and was ready to load in the morning. I had planned on leaving my house Friday morning at 8:00 to head for Nebraska.
Everyone came in for dinner about 8:30. We enjoyed a great meal with conversation and laughter. I cleaned up dinner plates and then headed to the shower. I had just gotten dressed, my hair still wrapped up in a towel, when my friend, Katie, called to let us know the fire had jumped Highway 60. We are only two miles away from that highway. Dillon and I went outside and the smoke was horrendous! We came in and told the boys to get their boots, jeans and long-sleeved shirts on because the fire was now very close.
We all went outside and got the horses and bottle calf penned up in the corrals. Then headed to get the water hoses going. We sprayed down the house and the yard. I went in the house and started packing a bag for everyone, as well as, bagging up the folders with the vehicle titles and our birth certificates and grabbing the computers. I went back outside to see that the only thing between our home and the fire east of us was the county road! We decided that it was time to leave. We left, but we didn’t know where we wanted to go so we just drove up to the Mutual feedyard just 5 miles north of our home and waited.
This is my house on Thursday around 5:00. The fire was still around 30 miles from our house.
Our house around 9:30.i took these from my front yard. The only thing separating our place from this fire was the county road!
While waiting, my mom called and as we talked, she asked me if we had loaded the horses. I said, “No, we just locked them in the dirt lot; they will be ok.” She said, “Honey, smoke can harm them too.” That never even crossed my mind. So we went back, loaded everything up and took them to my in-laws 30 miles away. While Ryan and I did that, Dillon met our friends and dropped the kids off with them and then went and got a 200 gallon water tank with a pump from another friend. We meet back at the house and drove around to see if we could help! As we drove west of our house just one mile, there was a cute little Centennial Farm house (which my kids and I have ridden horses by hundreds of times) burnt to the ground! Nothing left…absolutely nothing!
This house is one mile west of me. There is nothing left!
As we continued to drive just another half mile, we see our neighbor Kelsey’s house! It was standing…no damage at all. We drove in the driveway and noticed the fire had gotten clear up to the foundation of her home, but the firefighters fought and fought! They won this battle! The fire went around her house and continued on! We drove some more and found telephone poles on fire so we stopped and put those out. That was just a drop in the bucket. As we looked on down the road, there were poles already burnt so badly that all we could see was the top part that was connected to the lines. Our neighbor, two miles west and one mile north, lost ALL of his pasture, and hay stacks. Only by the grace of God, his cattle and horses were all okay!
Around 3:30 Friday morning, we went back to our house and checked everything out again before heading to bed. We were up again at 6:30 and went out to see the devastation. It was worse than we had thought! Dillon and I spent all day Friday putting out fires with our tank. He was driving and I was on the back of the pickup with the water hose. I can’t even tell you how many times the wind changed in one day! We would work for hours to get a pasture put out, only to move on somewhere else and when we came back, everything we had put out was burning again…just in a different direction.
As tired as Dillon and I were, I can’t even imagine the exhaustion of our firefighters as they worked endless hours in way worse conditions. I am thankful for each one of them and their hard work, as well as, the electric companies. We thought we would be out for weeks, after seeing the number of poles down, but we already have our power restored.
This fire was miles long and miles wide. The total acres burned were over 240,000! Lives have been taken, homes were lost, cattle were either dead or suffering from the burns, pastures and hay are gone, and equipment has been burnt. It was a heart breaking weekend, to say the least, but with heartbreak there is joy and blessings, as well. As a HarvestHER, I love wheat but this weekend I loved it for a whole different reason. I know, without a shadow of a doubt, the wheat field south of our house saved our home!! That and the GRACE OF GOD!
Thanks to all who have prayed for us through this stressful time. Please continue these prayers for all that have been affected, as well as, prayers for RAIN!!
God Bless,
Kylee DeBock
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT
