CZU Lightning Complex Fire

          The morning of August 16, 2020, I was awakened at about 2 AM by a thunder and lightning storm the likes of which I had never experienced.  It was a dry lightning storm.  We got a little bit of rain.  Some places got none.  I got up and watched out the window, enjoying the show, and having no idea that the lightning was lighting fires all over a wide area of the State of California.

          Later that day, Jim and I went to lunch at the Empire Grill in Felton.  We were eating outside and there were several Cal Fire fighters eating there also.  I had heard there were some small fires nearby and asked them about the fires.  They said there were three of them, all started by lightning, over toward the coast.  At that point, they didn’t think we had anything to worry about.  How wrong they were!  The wind changed in the night; the fires got bigger and moved together.  They created one big fire that moved swiftly through the brush and into the forest.  By the next day, a good bit of the towns of Bonnie Doon and Boulder Creek were on fire and the fire had raced through California’s oldest State Park, Big Basin.  There were mandatory evacuations occurring in those areas and we were, by then, on evacuation alert here in Ben Lomond.  So was our son Greg who lives in Felton. I’ll continue with our tale but, let me say here, that  Boulder Creek, Brookdale, Bonnie Doon, Ben Lomond, Felton, Zayante, Scotts Valley, and other surrounding areas, including the campus of the University of California Santa Cruz and some places in Santa Clara Co., were all eventually evacuated.  In fact, there were so many homeless people that Santa Cruz County ordered all visitors to leave to make room in the hotels, campgrounds, etc.  And they ordered all of those places to cancel all reservations.  They were only allowed to rent to people who were displaced by the fire.

          By the time Jim went to bed on August 18, we were fairly sure we were going to have to leave soon.  In fact, I did not go to bed.  I was watching news and deciding what to take with me when we left.  At 4:30 AM, on August 19, I got Jim up and told him we needed to load the cars.  I filled mine with pictures – antique pictures that happened to be out because I was in the middle of scanning them, the scanners, all the newer photo albums that were in the house, a bunch of framed pictures, and my camera went into my car.  (Many other albums that were out in the garage would have been lost.)  I packed a little bag.  I forgot to put in pajamas and, when we left, I forgot my toiletry bag.  So, I didn’t even have a toothbrush!  But I did remember my medications.  And I had lots of pictures!!  Jim did a little better than I did but neither of us brought enough clothes.

          By daylight on the 19^th, there was a lot of ash and charred leaves raining down and the smoke was thick.  By mid-morning, we decided to leave and not wait until it was mandatory.  We called Greg.  He and Amauri were going to leave too.  We first went to Felton Bible Church where they were taking people in until they found a place to go.  Felton still had much more breathable air than Ben Lomond at that point.  I went straight there.  Jim first went to Greg’s house to get a speaker that wouldn’t fit in Greg’s car.  Then he joined me at the church to wait for Greg.  When we were all there, we headed out to Saratoga to stay with a friend of Greg’s who has a big home there. 

Sun through smoke.

Some of the leaves that 
rained down in our yard.

            We were at Mike’s house for two weeks!  When we left, we had no idea we would be gone so long.  Mike lives there with a housemate.  When we arrived, that made six people.  Then three more friends of Greg and Amauri came for a few days before heading out to relatives in Grass Valley.  Like I said, it was a big house with plenty of space to sleep nine people!  On the weekends, they had BBQs and Irish music sessions out in the back yard.  It was a busy place and we were well entertained.  But it was still hard not to be home and not to know if we would ever go home.

Mike's house in Saratoga.

          Since none of us brought enough clothes, we all went shopping over in Cupertino to buy some.  We also went grocery shopping to get our own food and food to share.  We certainly didn’t expect Mike to feed us.  Other than that, we just hung out at Mike’s house, listening to the news, for two weeks. 

I had ordered some things before we left home and had five packages on the way.  Three were coming by US mail and, since I knew our mail was being held in Watsonville, I wasn’t worried about those.  They were finally delivered.  One was from Staples and I finally found out it was in a warehouse in Salinas and would be delivered after we got home.  It was.  One was coming via UPS.  When I tried to check on it, UPS said it was lost.  I contacted the shipper more than once, trying to get a refund.  When I got home, I demanded that they either come up with the refund or reship the items.  They choose the latter, so I finally got that package too.  Meanwhile, back at Mike’s, I had ordered some clothes online and paid for expedited shipping.  I did not receive them in time to even wear them at Mike’s and had to stay there an extra day to wait for the package.  This did not make me happy!

The evacuation order was lifted for our area on August 31^st.  Jim went home to check on things.  Greg went to check on things at his house too.  Amauri and I stayed at Mike’s.  Jim went home to stay on September 1.  Greg went home to do some work but came back.  Finally, on September 2, the rest of us went home to stay – after cleaning our rooms and a few other chores at Mike’s.  Fortunately, our electricity was on the whole time.  Greg’s was not.  He had a huge refrigerator mess to clean up.  Really nasty.  We had ash to hose off of everything outside.  You can’t sweep it or blow it because it is toxic, and you don’t want to end up breathing it. 

Amauri is having school at home this year due to the pandemic and that had a delayed started due to the fire.  She finally started school the second week of September.

Our son Kevin lives in a group home in Ben Lomond.  He was evacuated too.  The entire group went to live in the Fine Arts Building at the Santa Cruz Co. Fair Grounds in Watsonville.  The Red Cross was providing for all the many people at the Fair Grounds and some people were taking care of animals there too.  We talked to him on the phone each day while we were gone and heard all about what was going on at the Fair Grounds.

Since coming home, we have taken in a kitten.  She was to go to a family whose home burned down and who had to move to a place that doesn’t allow pets.  Greg’s friend was fostering her and Amauri wanted to keep her.  Long story short, she ended up here because Greg and Amauri plan to get a dog and their landlord will only allow one pet.  Amauri wanted to call her Ash and Jim wanted to call her Ember.  Her name became Ashley Ember Roe – Ash for short. 

Ashley Ember Roe  "Ash"

Now for some terrible statistics.  There were fires burning all over California at this same time but the CZU Lightning Complex Fire alone burned over 85,000 acres and destroyed about 1500 buildings, over 900 of those were single family homes.  I know several people who lost their homes.  It is incredibly sad. 

Our church has just completed two Saturday Give Aways.  We took in all sorts of donations and let people come to get things for free.  We had clothes, linens, diapers, toiletries, toys, books, housewares, cleaning supplies and more.  While I was there, I talked to many people who came.  One little girl, about three years old, was tightly hugging two baby dolls and a stuffed rabbit.  Her mother was trying to get one of the dolls away from her.  I went over and asked if there was a problem.  The mother said, as she finally yanked a doll away from her daughter, that she felt it was too much for her daughter to take three things.  Some other child might want one of them.  The little girl was standing there with tears running down, not making a sound, just tears running down.  I asked, “Did she lose her babies in the fire?”  The mother said, “Yes.”  I said, “In that case, I think she needs all three of these.”  They went away with all three and the little girl was smiling.  It was my turn to cry.