I just don't know how to title this ..
Sep. 2nd, 2002 11:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ceagleYep. Birthday today. It was one of those good news bad news days though. One of those, as they say, fact is wilder than fiction days. In fact, like something out of a movie.. :|
The good news is, he's alive.
The rest does like this:
Just Saturday, we were up in the mountains, celebrating a few late summer birthdays, enjoying the tolerable temperatures amongst the cedars and fir trees of the Angeles Forest.. a friendly and jovial picnic of sorts, amongst friends and a few cabin owners near Crystal Lake. We had our meal and much laughter, then we slowly dispersed for a few chores, and a little relaxation.. I read more of Tracy Pierce's book.. my friend, and sort of unnofficial patriarch, relaxed on the couch of this cabin he has spent nearly 25 years fixing up, such that it eventually became quite a palace of a country retreat inside and out.
After 6 pm, we headed out for the day, and off to a bit of dinner, their closing gift in the birthday weekend.
The next day, my friend went back up, because he loves being there so much, just to work on it a bit, which he does several times a week now that he has mostly retired.
We start getting calls around noon back down in the city, inquiring as to whether we'd seen smoke up in the hills yet.. we looked out, and sure enough, there it was..
Turning on the news, it sounded like a fire had begun several miles away and eastward in the cabin canyon and hills. With normal weather conditions, it would move east...........
About 12:30, with the thermometer showing 102f (41-ish C), we get a call from my friend, from the cabin - the power has gone out, but he has heard about the fire below.. and considering its location, he decides to get more information, then we'll hear back later..
By 3pm in our world, we hear of evacuations in the area, and figure we'll hear more later on tv.. by 2:30, his phone has also stopped working.
Evening rolls around and we hear of more evacuations, and we figure it is taking a great deal of time, since 8,000 people had to get out slowly via dirt fire roads, and go east toward San Bernardino.. so eventually we figure either he went out with that group and got so tired he spent the night at a hotel, or the fire kept blowing east and he was spending the night at the cabin, west of the fire anyways... By 5am, I couldn't wait up any longer.. I just had to get some sleep, since I had to take someone to airport at noon the next day.
11am, I am awakened.. and hear the whole story..
Back to his world:
By the time his phone was out, he was already looking for ways to get out of there..
He and his faithful dog, and only one other cabin owner were up there.. so they got into each other's respective cars and tried going both the front and back roads of escape.. only to meet a wall of fire both ways..
At the second wall, the other cabin owner's car burst into flames, and he crawled out, and returned to the cabins in my friend's car, to try to think of something to do.
Seeing a wall of fire approaching now from the top of the hill, descending upon the 8 or so cabins, they head to a small stream with a tidepool which flows between all the cabins, and jump in.. just in time to watch his life's work go up in flames... :|
but that was just the beginning...
From 4 pm on into the night, they remained in the stream, keeping their heads under as much as possible, because at every breath, hot cinders pelted their bodies... the water near freezing at the bottom of the 4ft tidepool, and uncomfortably warm near the top.. all the while struggling to keep the reluctant dog's fur wet as well, and away from the burning embers..
As the darkness neared midnight, it would have been pitch black of wilderness, but remained lit from red ash and patches of flame throughout the trees and soil..
He had left an new industrial strength halogen flashlight just at the edge of the stream, where it essentially evaporated.. He had left his wallet on a rock nearby also, and found it had melted..
With the tidepool surface coated with ash, and the largest of the fires having obliterated all but one of the structures there, they slowly, painfully, ventured out of the water near midnight (they estimate), and return to the cars.. the first car still had the keys to the remaining cabin, and luckily the key they needed was the only one that hadn't melted... the keys to the escape car however were at the bottom of the tidepool.. so with aching eyes and burning backs, they retreated to the last cabin, without sleep, until they could flag down an emergency grading truck which arrived a few hours after daybreak..
So about 8:30am, the rangers deliver them to the paramedics, including a dog with very singed whiskers..
After I get the ride off to the airport, I rush back to the hospital to see how they are doing.. the eyes.. the back... the arms with cuts from rocks, sparks, and struggling canine claws... The other cabin owner is hurting too, but he is released... My friend has to stay there to recover in Intensive Care.. :|
So that is where it stands..
A lifetime of treasures lost.. in exchange for the experience of a night at the mouth of a volcanic beast..
It isn't quite Sept 11.. but it drives home even further, the incredible levels of dedication that firefighters have to endure.. and makes us ever more thankful for them..
A very mixed birthday weekend.. but, he is alive.
Thank you for listening..
The good news is, he's alive.
The rest does like this:
Just Saturday, we were up in the mountains, celebrating a few late summer birthdays, enjoying the tolerable temperatures amongst the cedars and fir trees of the Angeles Forest.. a friendly and jovial picnic of sorts, amongst friends and a few cabin owners near Crystal Lake. We had our meal and much laughter, then we slowly dispersed for a few chores, and a little relaxation.. I read more of Tracy Pierce's book.. my friend, and sort of unnofficial patriarch, relaxed on the couch of this cabin he has spent nearly 25 years fixing up, such that it eventually became quite a palace of a country retreat inside and out.
After 6 pm, we headed out for the day, and off to a bit of dinner, their closing gift in the birthday weekend.
The next day, my friend went back up, because he loves being there so much, just to work on it a bit, which he does several times a week now that he has mostly retired.
We start getting calls around noon back down in the city, inquiring as to whether we'd seen smoke up in the hills yet.. we looked out, and sure enough, there it was..
Turning on the news, it sounded like a fire had begun several miles away and eastward in the cabin canyon and hills. With normal weather conditions, it would move east...........
About 12:30, with the thermometer showing 102f (41-ish C), we get a call from my friend, from the cabin - the power has gone out, but he has heard about the fire below.. and considering its location, he decides to get more information, then we'll hear back later..
By 3pm in our world, we hear of evacuations in the area, and figure we'll hear more later on tv.. by 2:30, his phone has also stopped working.
Evening rolls around and we hear of more evacuations, and we figure it is taking a great deal of time, since 8,000 people had to get out slowly via dirt fire roads, and go east toward San Bernardino.. so eventually we figure either he went out with that group and got so tired he spent the night at a hotel, or the fire kept blowing east and he was spending the night at the cabin, west of the fire anyways... By 5am, I couldn't wait up any longer.. I just had to get some sleep, since I had to take someone to airport at noon the next day.
11am, I am awakened.. and hear the whole story..
Back to his world:
By the time his phone was out, he was already looking for ways to get out of there..
He and his faithful dog, and only one other cabin owner were up there.. so they got into each other's respective cars and tried going both the front and back roads of escape.. only to meet a wall of fire both ways..
At the second wall, the other cabin owner's car burst into flames, and he crawled out, and returned to the cabins in my friend's car, to try to think of something to do.
Seeing a wall of fire approaching now from the top of the hill, descending upon the 8 or so cabins, they head to a small stream with a tidepool which flows between all the cabins, and jump in.. just in time to watch his life's work go up in flames... :|
but that was just the beginning...
From 4 pm on into the night, they remained in the stream, keeping their heads under as much as possible, because at every breath, hot cinders pelted their bodies... the water near freezing at the bottom of the 4ft tidepool, and uncomfortably warm near the top.. all the while struggling to keep the reluctant dog's fur wet as well, and away from the burning embers..
As the darkness neared midnight, it would have been pitch black of wilderness, but remained lit from red ash and patches of flame throughout the trees and soil..
He had left an new industrial strength halogen flashlight just at the edge of the stream, where it essentially evaporated.. He had left his wallet on a rock nearby also, and found it had melted..
With the tidepool surface coated with ash, and the largest of the fires having obliterated all but one of the structures there, they slowly, painfully, ventured out of the water near midnight (they estimate), and return to the cars.. the first car still had the keys to the remaining cabin, and luckily the key they needed was the only one that hadn't melted... the keys to the escape car however were at the bottom of the tidepool.. so with aching eyes and burning backs, they retreated to the last cabin, without sleep, until they could flag down an emergency grading truck which arrived a few hours after daybreak..
So about 8:30am, the rangers deliver them to the paramedics, including a dog with very singed whiskers..
After I get the ride off to the airport, I rush back to the hospital to see how they are doing.. the eyes.. the back... the arms with cuts from rocks, sparks, and struggling canine claws... The other cabin owner is hurting too, but he is released... My friend has to stay there to recover in Intensive Care.. :|
So that is where it stands..
A lifetime of treasures lost.. in exchange for the experience of a night at the mouth of a volcanic beast..
It isn't quite Sept 11.. but it drives home even further, the incredible levels of dedication that firefighters have to endure.. and makes us ever more thankful for them..
A very mixed birthday weekend.. but, he is alive.
Thank you for listening..
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Weekend Blaze
Date: 2002-09-03 06:18 am (UTC)I’m really glad your friend survived the wildfire. I heard about the California fires this weekend, and how a home had already been destroyed by the blaze. I never thought how close the events could come to me, knowing that you were in that same cabin location just the night before . . .
It’s a story that has a positive ending. Thank you for sharing it with us. Like you said, it was a mixed blessing birthday weekend.
I’m glad to have given you the phone call on Monday.
Take care, C Eagle!
no subject
Date: 2002-09-03 09:48 am (UTC)That is, for myself at least, a fearful round of deja vuwrit
large... for I had a friend (a co-worker at the time) lose everything
that he and his family could not stuff into the rear of his SUV, in
the Berkeley Hills fire! Though he and his wife and children were
not caught in the blaze itself, the pure emotion of having to cope
with the disaster is one of those things that is almost as fearful
to witness in the lives of one's friends as it is to cope with oneself.
I am just thankful (as I am sure you are too) that he survived it.
Life, and the friends one makes in life, are more valuable than
anything else. As devastating as losing one's home and property
is, losing a friend is the ultimate loss. Thank goodness you're
there, eaglepal, to let him know he has one. :)
no subject
Date: 2002-09-03 10:17 am (UTC)Just wanted to wish you a belated happy birthday and thank you for the kind words you always seem to offer.
Thanks for the eye-opening post.
wow
Date: 2002-09-03 05:54 pm (UTC)Next time we get together, I could share some stories of my grandparent's experiences with Malibu fires. They almost lost the house once, with that big fire in '94.
no subject
That's a harrowing story to share. Glad to know that your friend managed to survive the experience intact.
no subject
Date: 2002-09-09 09:37 pm (UTC)And I hope you manage to have a pleasant birthday month despite the tragedy.
Warm wishes,
Blue