Posted on 07/10/2008 9:48:38 PM PDT by finch
Sprinklers ran on rooftops while the Camp Fire blazed only a half mile away from some Ridge residents who packed their vehicles preparing to leave at a moment's notice.
Rex Boylan lives on Lunar Lane on the east side of Pentz Road. His home was one of the first to be put under immediate threat evacuation notice.
"I'm packed and it's just one of those things we'll wait and see," he said. "We'll leave when we have to or when we're told to."
Immediate threat is the strongest word firefighters can say, CAL FIRE public information officers say. And in the State of California, firefighters cannot physically remove residents from their homes.
"It's heading this way," CAL FIRE spokesman Scott McLean said. '"It's not if, it is. Will it jump the river? I don't know."
Just when firefighters started to get a handle on the fires, "Mother Nature came and bit us in the butt," McLean said. McLean said he had to help his parents evacuate too because they live just down the street from Lunar Lane.
"We're all touched by this," he said.
Dan Roskopf is a forester for the Plumas National Forest. He said the Camp Fire was about half way up the east side of the West Branch of the Feather River drainage. It was but a quarter mile from the river when residents nearby were packing up. Boylan said he packed all necessities.
(Excerpt) Read more at paradisepost.com ...
Best wishes to you and yours.
We’ll pray for you and your family. I have a friend who lives just south of you on Falcon’s View, also pretty much overlooking the ridge. I really hope he doesn’t lose his home. He’s getting up there in years and has a model railroad layout to (almost) die for. He’s a WW2 vet, though, and is being smart. He evacuated to a friend’s house in Chico.
It has been known mainly as a retirement area so many of the residents are elderly; and, surely scared. I hope they can save it.
Prayers up for you all in Paradise, Finch!
Having been within VERY close distance of one of the largest Southern California fires last fall, I can say that prayer works. Pray for the safety of those firefighters, they are a rare breed and I’ve never seen anyone work as hard as they do and risk their own lives to save a complete stranger’s home. God bless them all!
P.S. If you have any firefighter outcamps/stations near you, buy as much foot powder as you can afford and drop it off for them (their feet sweat horribly in those boots and the foot powder will help keep them dry as possible). The firefighters down here were very thankful for it.
Just saw your post number 4. It must be hard to watch from so far away. Prayers up again.
Thank you.
We lived there in 1968. As Boy Scouts one of the things we used to do was clear underbrush to reduce the speed that ground fires spread. I hear they don’t do that anymore for “environmental reasons”.
Manzanita and scrub oak burn fast and hot.
It’s amazing what 30 years of bad forestry practices can do.
I agree about the bad forestry. Today, they are sitting on the ridge hoping the wind doesn’t pick up. Also, the temp may exceed 100 degrees today. I’ve always thought it was strange how hot it gets up there. Paradise is above 1500’ and Magalia is over 2500’.
Bulletin was just issued for immediate emergency evacuation of East Paradise. It appears that the wind has kicked up and the fire is close to crossing the river.
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