When Our World Turned Upside Down - Part 2
So to carry on from last week.......Every afternoon this fire would try to kick our ass and run us out of town. One afternoon she almost did. There was fire at both ends of the canyon. No place to go. It so happened that one of my battalion chief friends was driving by and directed us to go down to the "flat". This flat was a place where P,G,&E was staging. We would be safe there. The wind was blowing and the smoke and ash was getting thick.
Mike and the volunteer firefighter Rick were up the canyon fighting this fire. Little did I know at that time but they were waging a fierce battle to save Rick and his sister's homes.
So here we are down at this flat waiting for word that we could go back to town. A fire official came along and told us that he would lead us all to Redding if we wanted to. I was surprised at the number of people that left. I chose to stay. I knew if I left I wouldn't be getting back in. About a half hour later the neighbor and I ventured back into town. Mike and Rick showed up a little bit later. My heart sank when I saw Rick get out holding a kitty. I asked him where he got that. He told me it was his niece's. My heart broke. I knew what that meant. They had lost both houses. Rick left to spend some time with his family and regroup.
So the night wears on with a lot of fire activity. Several times the phone rang for Mike to go take care of business. Later that night I woke up hearing the back up beepers on the dozers. It was nice knowing they were on the hill behind me working. The morning brought more smoke and ash and tons of engines in town. These guys were exhausted.
You can't see him but there was a third firefighter. He was keeping watch over the two on the lawn. It was a safe feeling knowing they were in town.
At this point we thought we were safe. The fire had attacked from the south, turned on itself and made a run for us from the north. We had tons of black around us, miles of extra wide dozer line on the hill behind us. We honestly thought we had beat this thing.
After a few days of little activity the volunteer engine was down staffed and returned to the station. Mike thought he was going to get some well deserved time off. That's what he thought anyway! Something didn't feel right. We took a ride up French Gulch Road. We got about a half mile and there were 50' flames on both sides of the road. We raced back to town and found the task force leader. He called his resources into town for structure protection and placed an additional order for engines. I went and dropped Mike off at the station to get the engine. As he was coming into town to attack the fire my friend up the canyon called and said fire was bumping houses up there as well. Mike raced off to fight that fire. For 45 minutes he fought that until help arrived. The whole time wondering what was going on in town.
Within a half hour the fire was bumping the first houses on the south end of town. Everyone from that end of town evacuated. The hotel stood empty. By the time it was all said and done, there must have been an engine in every driveway in town.
As soon as Mike had left to go up the canyon, I hooked up the trailer and got ready to leave. Mike had told me that if the fire got into blackberries behind the house to leave. We had both agreed that I would go to the volunteer fire station.
So there I wait. The engine in the neighbor's driveway. Fire in those blackberries behind the house. I felt ok staying since I had an engine in the driveway and four engines on the road above me.
Within an hour of first seeing the flames it was over. Thank god we had all those engines show up. Thank god Mike had a "feeling" and took a ride. Had we not seen what was headed to town and alerted the task force leader, I am afraid that a good portion of the town would have been destroyed.
I know that a lot of families lost everything. At last count, 33 homes were lost. In a town of 350 people, that is devastating. With that being said, The French Gulch Flareups have banded together to plan a fundraiser for the French Gulch Families that have been impacted by the Carr Fire. The tri-tip sandwich fundraiser is a family event. There are numerous raffle prizes from guns to kayaks!
To view the event, click here!
To see more photos go to our Carr Fire Gallery. Click here.
I have seen people band together to survive. We have checked on eachother, fed eachother, fed eachother's animals - We have become #FrenchGulchStrong!