- To: ridecamp@endurance.net
- Subject: RC: California Fires!
- From: JCMaretti@aol.com
- Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 15:03:18 EDT
- Resent-Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 12:07:09 -0700 (PDT)
- Resent-From: ridecamp@endurance.net
- Resent-Message-ID: <"NQz87.0.a04.R7knt"@starfish>
- Resent-Sender: ridecamp-request@endurance.net
California Wildfires Out of Control - What you need to know!
=09In case you haven't noticed, California is on fire! As a City of Chico F=
irefighter, I feel very comfortable going to fires at other people's houses, =
but this week, contending with an out of control wildfire heading directly f=
or my house, different feelings crossed my mind. The usual calm confidence =
was replaced with the 3 A's: anxiety, anger and adrenaline.=20
=09 Monday evening, August 21st, we experienced a beautiful lightning storm. =
Unfortunately, it was "dry lightning" - not associated with any significant =
rain. In the morning, there were several small fires in Butte County. Afte=
r listening to my scanner and hearing the confident Incident Commander infor=
m his Dispatch Center, "We have this under control," I loaded up the young h=
orse into the trailer and headed out of town. After all, there was no sense =
in letting a day off go to waste. While my primary horse, Kahlua, is recupe=
rating from her suspensory injury (two weeks before Tevis), now is the time =
to get Cathy's endurance prospect Beholdd out on the trail. I met a friend =
at Lake Oroville and we had a wonderful ride. On the way back home, while s=
till 30 miles away, I noticed that the small column of smoke near our house =
had grown - tremendously! Turning on my scanner in the truck I learned that =
California Department of Forestry was working over a dozen fires in the foot=
hills. The afternoon winds had picked up and most of these small fires were =
joining together to create a huge fire front that was headed right for our h=
ouse. The scanner was reporting that the before mentioned confident Inciden=
t Commander was now frantically ordering additional resources and talking a=
bout mandatory evacuations! Cathy was at work, so I called her and told her =
to meet me at home. When I arrived home with the horse trailer, the smoke w=
as heavy, but it seemed like the fire would miss us to the south. Just in c=
ase, we casually loaded the truck with photo albums, clothes, food and the =
fire safe previously filled with important documents and computer back-ups. =
Cathy suggested that we start wrapping the horse's legs in case we actually =
had to leave. Being a paid professional ;-) I thought that it was unnecessa=
ry - we wouldn=92t really have to leave - but decided to help her - just in =
case. I got one leg wrapped on Kahlua (her bad leg) when all hell broke loo=
se. The winds changed, the noise sounded like a jet engine and about 100 ya=
rds away a pine tree suddenly exploded into flames like a giant sparkler. On =
an ordinary working day I would be sporting a huge grin - Firefighters just =
love this stuff - but not this time. Cathy, who used to be a Volunteer Fire=
fighter remained calm. In her quiet, confident voice, she was able to quick=
ly catch our other 2 horses. They can sometimes be a little excitable and d=
ifficult to catch. Today, they luckily came right away. I think that they =
wanted to leave also. As she was driving away, she saw numerous people walk=
ing horses down the main road headed out of town. The traffic was so conges=
ted that she had a chance to talk with some. Most had friends meeting them a=
t the edge of town, but some didn't even own a trailer Most people were pan=
icky and unprepared.=20
=09I stayed behind to try and save our house. Kids, don't try this at home. =
I had my protective clothing with me and have years of training and experien=
ce on my side. Once you get the family, animals and photo albums packed, it=
's time to leave. No house, stereo, or big screen TV is worth your life. T=
hat's why you pay those annual insurance premiums. The most important thing=
s in life are not things.
=09We saved our house. Others didn't. Some say we were lucky. I say you m=
ake your own luck. The following is a list of things that made us "lucky": =
Although we had a 50' clearance from our house to the forest, this spring, w=
e hired a bulldozer and pushed the manzanita back another 100'. This gave t=
he Firefighters 150' of "defendable space". Also, by having scanners at ho=
me and in the truck, we have access to more timely and accurate information =
than the media. Cathy had left with the horses 20 minutes before the Sherif=
f=92s Office came by to tell us about the mandatory evacuation. If we had w=
aited for them, there wouldn=92t have been enough time to escape with the ho=
rses. We also keep a "tidy" yard - no pine needles stacked up against the h=
ouse. Although I was busy sweeping the roof and cleaning out the gutters i=
n the few minutes that I had before the fire hit. Another concern is electr=
icity. Power is often interrupted during a large fire or other emergency. =
If you depend on a well for your water source, you might consider a generato=
r. We have a 5kw 220v generator that can run most of the house - although i=
t has a difficult time keeping the hot tub at our preferred 106 degrees. If =
you get a generator, have an electrician install a transfer switch so that y=
ou can run it without "back-feeding" electricity to the poor guy working on =
the power pole. Another rule in our household is: always keep the horse tra=
iler hooked up to the truck and at least one tank full of fuel. We don't us=
e the huge gas-guzzler for commuting anyway, so this is not a problem. We a=
lso pre-planned what we are going to take with us if we only have a few minu=
tes notice: our animals, the fire safe box with birth certificates, marriage =
license and recently backed-up computer hard disks; wedding and baby albums, =
and a little HO train that my late father gave me. With one credit card and =
a stop at Wal-Mart, we can buy food and clothes to last us through any ordea=
l. One more stop at the feed store and we're set. Another thing to conside=
r is to pre-arrange a place to bring you animals in case you have to evacuat=
e. This is something that we had not done. There were some frantic moments =
and curt conversations on the cell phone on the way into town. Remember, it =
doesn't do any good to have an agreement with your next door neighbor if the =
whole county is on fire.
=09This story has a happy ending. Cathy and I are safe. Our horses got to =
run around in a large pasture with some of their old friends for a couple of =
days while the smoke cleared. Our house is still standing, although the lan=
dscape is now more of a moonscape. Now is the time to prepare. Sooner or l=
ater accidents happen. Don't wait until it is too late.
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