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Anonymous (Evans) Anonymous

Anonymous Anonymous formerly Evans aka Bitch
Child of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
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Profile last modified | Created 9 Mar 2010
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When this person was created on 09 March 2010 through the import of arie.ged, certain information could not be interpreted. Could you help clean this up?

NOTE 1 NOTE @NI16660@ 0 @NI16660@ NOTE 1 CONC Karen born Nov. 8, 1944 and married Charlie O'Dell. Karen and I have exchanged much fam 1 CONC ily genealogy and would like to include a letter sent to me during the drought and fore 1 CONC st fires of 1988. The things that are happening now will be history to our children an 1 CONC d grandchildren in years to come. Karen , Charles and their children live in Camp Crook 1 CONC , South Dakota. During the drought of"88" they had some very scary times as forest fire 1 CONC s rage around them. Karen's Letter: Hi, Well, as you may know, we had an exciting tim 1 CONC e this year. When we came home from Ohio in June, we sort of relaxed for a week and the 1 CONC n found that was the only relaxation we would have. We had a 4-H meeting at Lanis Sprin 1 CONC gs campground in Long Pines of the Custer Forest on Monday afternoon. Just before it wa 1 CONC s time to go we had a rainstorm with a lot of lightening. I was wondering whether to g 1 CONC o to the meeting, but the storm finally stopped and Charlie called me from the Forest S 1 CONC ervice to tell me he might not be home that night because there were three fires in th 1 CONC e hills. I asked if it was OK for us to go into the hills for the meeting and he said i 1 CONC t was OK. After we got to the meeting we watched a bomber plane fly over. I thought i 1 CONC t was a slurry plane that drops retardant on forest fires. We then got a little nervous 1 CONC , we thought the fire must be really big. The kids climbed a hill and could see the fir 1 CONC e. They watched as the plane dropped retardant on the fire. I was ready to leave when C 1 CONC harlie came and told us we were in no immediate danger. We finished our meeting and qui 1 CONC ckly left the forest. That was the first day of a three week fire that burned 75,000 ac 1 CONC res. For the first three days, Charlie got only about four hours sleep, but by then the 1 CONC re were nearly 2000 forest fire fighters brought to Camp Crook (a town of about 80 peop 1 CONC le). My first job was to sit in the ambulance in case it was needed, but when the param 1 CONC edics were brought in, we weren't on call anymore. I met the paramedics and they aske 1 CONC d about our facilities and phone numbers in case they were needed. The men were all fig 1 CONC hting fires and the women were all making food for the men, so when the ambulance phon 1 CONC e rang at home, I was the only one on the line. I didn't even have a driver. The Sherif 1 CONC f said that the ambulance was needed on call at the school. I took the kids to Grandma' 1 CONC s and took the ambulance to the school. as I got out one of the paramedics came to mee 1 CONC t me. He said, we have eighteen guys who have been run over by fire, I said Oh! no, a 1 CONC s I thought that they had to be people I knew and that they were lying out there dyin 1 CONC g and I didn't know where Charlie was and I didn't know where Mike (Charlie's brother w 1 CONC as). All that seemed to go through my mind before the paramedic next said, they deplore 1 CONC d their shelters. Then I knew that they were a Forest Service crew. Local people did no 1 CONC t have the shelters. He said we have three men with burns and two of the paramedics hav 1 CONC e gone up to get them. They want you to come up and meet them with the ambulance. Whe 1 CONC n I went into headquarters, I knew one of the rangers and he handed me a radio and sai 1 CONC d take this. Charlie was talking to me on the other end, I knew he was OK. I told hi 1 CONC m I was alone and they said that was OK because there was a paramedic up there who woul 1 CONC d go with me. I knew the country, so they sent me alone. I met the paramedic and the th 1 CONC ree worst of the burn victims on the road out near the country school. We took the wors 1 CONC t burned of the three and it was a chore getting him out of the van where he had been p 1 CONC ut on the floor, because he was in pain. That was a good sign, his nerves were still wo 1 CONC rking. Back in town I found someone to drive, because I was needed in the back. We too 1 CONC k him to Buffalo, SD and there we met an air ambulance that flew him to Billings MT. L 1 CONC ater Charlie told me that he was about to come home for a little sleep, when they tol 1 CONC d him that eighteen men had been burned over. They said they needed two guys who knew t 1 CONC he country to lead the paramedics in to them. He said, "call Mike in." He and Mike kne 1 CONC w the country the best. Charlie took one paramedic in from the south and Mike took th 1 CONC e other in from the north. The trees were still burning as they drove through them th 1 CONC e paramedic finally said if we don't see them around the next turn, we're getting out o 1 CONC f here. There they were around the next turn. Their gear was black and melted. They ha 1 CONC d unfolded silver shelters of space material that kept out the heat. They had no time t 1 CONC o pull up the grass, because the fire came at them so fast. It seemed to explode upon t 1 CONC hem and they saw a big ball of fire coming, they dove into the tents. The man that ha 1 CONC d gotten burned said that the grass burned under the tent. He was from Fort Wayne, Indi 1 CONC ana and he was working with the Wyoming Hot Shot Crew. Charlie stayed and helped some o 1 CONC thers with minor burns while the paramedics came out with the three worse patients. I g 1 CONC ot home at 4:00 a.m. and the next day at 11:00, I still had on my night gown when I go 1 CONC t a call from the Forest Service telling me to get our papers and evacuate. I had see 1 CONC n the smoke coming out of the hills, but I couldn't see the fire. I decided to get dres 1 CONC sed. If the house burned, I wasn't going to have only a night gown. The kids and I too 1 CONC k the drawers out of the desks and the buffet, grabbed as many cats as we could and pu 1 CONC t them and the dog in the van with the papers. Then we opened all the gates. We saw Car 1 CONC ol chasing some horses across the pasture and Gene cut the fence for them. Gene went ba 1 CONC ck to fight fire and Carol the kids and I went to chase the sheep and horses into the n 1 CONC eighbors pasture. We finally cut the fence for fear that we wouldn't have time to get t 1 CONC o the gate. We went for the cows, but the wouldn't move in the 102 degree heat, but b 1 CONC y then, Gene came and told us to wait, because he thought they could get it stopped a 1 CONC t the road. During all our work, we could see helicopters scooping up big baskets of wa 1 CONC ter and dumping them on the fire. Later that afternoon, the Forest Service called me an 1 CONC d asked if I wanted to work. The kids collected pop cans and I worked for the Informati 1 CONC on Office. We had calls from all over the country. A crew came from New York City. Th 1 CONC e first three days I worked 14 hours a day. One day as I was waking down the road to th 1 CONC e mess tent, I looked back an saw about 25 Indians following me in single file. It wa 1 CONC s the crew from the Cheyenne reservation. I thought a squaw shouldn't be in the lead, s 1 CONC o I stepped over and let them pass, they laughed at me. One bomber pilot had a very clo 1 CONC se call. The fire was very close to a ranch house and his retardant was not stopping th 1 CONC e fire. As a last resort he got really low to place the retardant where he wanted it, b 1 CONC ut almost ran out of room to pull up before hitting some trees. His comments on the rad 1 CONC io scared everyone, but he made it up in time. Well, the drought, the heat, and the fir 1 CONC e were the main topics this year here. In the whole time of the fire, no one became ove 1 CONC rcome with heat, even though the temperature was over 100 degrees on all days, but one 1 CONC . They had pop and gatorade available all the time. It was exciting. I hope it doesn' 1 CONC t happen again. Merry Christmas, Karen.


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Hello, please see the name on this profile and the body of the profile. I think something went wrong with the import. Thank you, Teresa
posted by Teresa Downey

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