Homes Saved; Dozens of Others Lost
July 15th, 2008 categories: This and That
We’ll, by now, if you live anywhere in the North Valley or foothill region and if you are at all like me, you are probably pretty tired of the relentless smoke that seems to stubbornly hang in the air. Although, that inconvenience pales in comparison to the difficulties faced by the dozens of fire victims who lost their homes to the recent fires. It is certainly a tough time for many people in our area.
The good news, however, is that the smoke seems to be lifting with most of the evacuation orders in the fire affected areas of places like Paradise and Concow. Let’s hope that the worst is behind us.
One home that was spared from the fire, was the spec house we had in escrow located just below Paradise on Tuscan Dr. The day after my first fire blog post of June 11th, I found a window of opportunity early in the morning to drive up the Skyway towards the fire and our home. I spent all morning and into the afternoon with a friend from Magalia cutting hand line and laying hose and sprinklers in preparation for the fire that was burning just below us to the West.
My main concern, as the smoke below gradually moved South, was that we would get fire in the brush filled canyon that chimneys up to the road at the end of the Tuscan Dr. cul-de-sac. And, as these pictures show, that is exactly what happened. The total lack of fire resources on our street, prompted me to call the fire information number I somehow remembered from the previous nights local news cast.
It was sometime around 2:00 in the afternoon when the flames started up the canyon and towards the homes on our street and the many others that eventually burned just to our south off of Neal Rd. and adjacent neighborhoods. I advised the gentlemen on the phone that we had fire coming at us and that I was concerned that I had not seen, even a single fire engine in our area. He explained that he did not know where that street or subdivision was, but he would look into it and see what he could do. Within minutes, there was first one state employee, followed closely by about 2 strike teams of OES Fire Engines and Personel.
The last photo seen in this slide show was taken just after the police demanded we evacuate. Stuck in Paradise that night, due to road closures, I spent a long night at friends’ and checked on the house the next morning. It, and each of the others in our subdivision, were all fine. Unfortunately, that was not the case for the many others that were lost that night.
