On Sunday afternoon sometime around 2:00pm, a forest fire erupted near Hamilton, only 10 miles from where I live. In a matter of only a few short hours, the blaze had overcome 500 acres, growing bigger by the minute, and residents of the area were thrown into Stage 2 mandatory evacuations. (Timelapse VIDEO) For some, there was only enough time to grab their pets, maybe a few valuable belongings, open gates for their livestock, and leave their homes behind hoping and praying that by some miracle it would still be standing when they returned.