CEDAR PARK, Texas — It's been a stressful 72 hours for those displaced from their homes due to the Parmer Lane Fire in Cedar Park.
Finding a place to stay, trying to carry on with their normal lives and thinking about the worst-case scenarios has become an all-too-common refrain.
"There is this tree behind Building 5 that caught fire, and if that tree would have like, fallen into the grass, Building 5 would have been gone as well,” said Ariel Hernandez, who lives in Building 5.
Building 5 did not sustain any major damage from the fire, but Hernandez and his wife have been on edge this week. She started her first day as a Pflugerville ISD teacher on Monday.
"After working 12 hours on Monday, 11 hours on Tuesday, coming back home to this was not fun,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez is a photographer, so in addition to all of his memories, all of his work was still in his apartment when he had to evacuate earlier this week.
"Sixteen to 18 terabytes of 10 years of pictures and videos – some stuff that I haven't delivered and our memories from being married,” Hernandez said.
Skylar Amdur's 72-year-old mother lives in Building 11 and also left without any of her belongings Tuesday night.
"Within minutes, she called me, grabbed her purse, her dog, got some shoes on and just took off,” Amdur said.
Amdur's mother's unit was close to Building 10, causing feelings of apprehension over the past few days to see what would be left of her apartment. Building 10 was destroyed in the fire.
To their surprise, the fire skipped right past Amdur's mother's home.
"When we came here today and just looked at the field and the trail back behind there, it was total devastation. And walking into her apartment with no damage was ... it's very surreal,” Amdur said.
Amdur's mother will be staying with her until she feels comfortable going back to her apartment.
As for Hernandez and his wife, they're starting to move. Their lease is up in September, but they've decided to start looking for a home early to be safe and give others a place to stay who weren't as fortunate.
"We just hope that our unit can be used for those that were displaced," Hernandez said. "We would just want to get out so somebody else can take it."