JESSAMINE COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18)– The deadliest wildfire in the US in nearly a century continues to burn in Northern California.
The number of dead stands at 79.
For more than a week, a Jessamine County woman’s family has wondered if their uncle made it out alive.
Amy Michel and her family have been on a roller coaster of emotions over the past week and half.
First wondering if everyone is OK, then thinking about the loss of a family home, then back to worrying about where the one person they couldn’t get a hold of was…uncle Bill.
Amy’s uncle is 62 years old and did not have have a cell phone. So when she learned the fire was in her family’s home town, her brother was unable to find him before they had to evacuate, and they had no way to get a hold of him…they assumed the worst.
They did everything they thought they could to help get the word out, talking to both local and national news outlets and using social media.
It wasn’t until 10 days after the camp fire started that they found out the good news.
Bill had been staying at a Red Cross shelter 20 to 30 minutes from his home and was just fine.
Amy says she and her family have social media to thank for getting the word out.
“I will fully admit to having a love-hate relationship with but what we did was all of us posted on our personal pages, made public posts with his picture. If you see him let us know. and that was all of the family members doing that and my sister-in-law in Grass Valley had someone reach out to her and say I saw him, I know him, described him perfectly.”
From that woman’s clues, Amy’s family was able to reunite with him at the shelter.
Something their family is feeling incredibly grateful for this Thanksgiving.
