PHOTOS: Susie Hagstrom was hot, tired and frustrated.
It had been nearly 24 hours since she'd slept, and nearly 24 hours since she and her family were forced to evacuate their home in the path of the fast-moving Ocotillo Fire in Cave Creek. She had no idea whether it was still standing.
“I’d just like to know if our home is still there,” she said. “I’m frustrated and not sure what to do.”
As temperatures soared into the triple digits, Hagstrom, her husband and her daughter had come to the Red Cross emergency evacuation center set up in the gym at Cactus Shadows High School, about five miles south of where firefighters were battling the wildland blaze that broke out just after midnight Saturday.