unquenchable love: photos from our neighborhood

Most of these photos were taken about 1 mile from my home where a majority of homes were burned in our neighborhood (click on them for larger images). These are all pictures of the aftermath of the flames ... I never actually saw any flames. Just a warning that some of these photos are really devastating ... it was quite difficult and emotional to walk through the streets, but I was encouraged by some of the incredible stories and testimonies we heard along the way. As you look at the photos, I encourage you to pray for the family they represent. Psalm 29 reads -- "The LORD will give strength to His people; The LORD will bless His people with peace."

If you are familiar with my neighborhood, this picture is taken on the corner of Duenda and Luz. You can see Fiona's home the background (behind the street sign). The following pictures are the view from Fiona's backyard. Tragically, her neighbor's home burned but only right up to their fence. And you can see the soot and ash left in their pool.

As you may have seen on CNN, Aguamiel was one of the most devastated streets in our neighborhood ... 27 homes burned and many that did not burn have severe smoke damage. In the second picture you can see the hills that burned all around Westwood. On the other side of those hills is Lake Hodges - a lake that separates our neighborhood from the city of Escondido. The fire whipped through Escondido, over the hills and right into Westwood. My friend Belinda and her family miraculously got out of Westwood early Monday morning. They were called by a relative and turned on the TV to find out if they needed to evacuate ... then their cable cut off and they realized the fire was close. They jumped in their cars and headed down the road. Miraculously, their home was saved and as you can see in the third photo, the flames came right into their backyard.

I know the family who lives in the home in the distance. Miraculously, their home is still standing despite some damage. Praise God!!

In the distance you can see their closet with unburned coats!

There are news crews from all over the country ...

A large plastic trash can melted into a small puddle.

Here are news crews reporting in the midst of the rubble. You can see a helicopter in the distance and the cross on the hill at Battle Mountain. The neighborhood on the other side of the mountain was the other hardest-hit neighborhood in Rancho Bernardo.

My dad and I stopped and talked to the man who lives in the house on the left ... He is the original owner of the home and has lived there for over 30 years. There are 6 or 7 houses on this cul-de-sac and only two survived. The man showed us the "line of fire" which came right down his fence and actually burned half of that tree in his front yard ... everything to the right of that line was burned. He and his neighbors say they also got out at the last minute, not knowing the fires were right down the street. Everyone we talked to said they had NO idea the fire was coming toward our neighborhood (in fact, most were sleeping around 4am or 5am when the fire actually started burning homes). Thank you Lord that everyone got out safely!!