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 19th, 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 31st.
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.
