- Submitted to the Auburn Journal by Teresa Tal.

The following photos were taken by Teresa's iphone as she evacuated her Saddleback home. Here are her words about her experience.

"We live in Saddleback. From the time these photos were taken, we had about 20 to 30 mins to pack up our kids, 5 cats and 4 dogs and get out. I said “God Speed” to the fish, turned on the sprinklers, turned off the gas and took off. As we were pulling down our driveway, black smoke was covering the sun and ash was blowing everywhere. We stopped across the street at our neighbors to make sure they were getting out. We learned that they lost their business, Yamaski Nursery and were in tears. It was like a scene out of a movie. Black smoke, explosions (I think propane), and ash everywhere. As we headed the back way out of our development, there were police flying in from every direction and yelling at us to get out. I had to maneuver our car around them. We got out onto 49 and headed to the mountains where we have a cabin in Graeagle. We were out of cel service for about 2 hours and had so many messages and emails when we arrived. We turned on the news and watched it burn. It was devastating. We did not know until about 9:30pm if we had a home to go back to. It was amazing how we were able to pull it together so fast. We survived our first disaster!!! Whoohoo. We know it will not be our last and we were able to take away good lessons.

Now it is time to pull together and help our friends and neighbors rebuild! Leaving work soon to bring supplies to the Auburn Fairgrounds for the fireman who saved my home and start a drive for the families who were not so lucky."

Editor's note: According to Keri Roeder, Co-Owner of Yamasaki Nursery, Inc., Yamasaki Nursery did not burn down and is open for business.