Thank you for making this post public - I have shared it to my Facebook page and in an email to my family. My brother and niece both lost their homes in the Camp Fire in 2018; it was four hours after we learned that people were dying while trying to evacuate that we heard from him and learned that he was all right. (He had insurance, but it was six months before he had permanent housing, and his life was turned upside down). In July 2022 the off grid house I had lived in years earlier burned down in the McKinney Fire in Klamath National Forest. In September 2022 I evacuated from the Cedar Creek Fire in Willamette National Forest; the town of Oakridge, where I live now, was under mandatory evacuation. The east wind was blowing the fire directly toward the town and for twelve hours, monitoring Facebook reports from Portland, I was convinced that I was going to lose my house. I didn't. The firefighters couldn't stop it, but at the last minute the winds changed and saved the town. When I returned, the smoke drove me away again; that September Oakridge sometimes literally had the worst air quality in the world.
Right now, my sister and her cat are evacuees from the Eaton Fire, staying with friends until they move into an Airbnb next week. My sister is one of the few lucky ones - her house survived with only smoke damage and damage to a tree and awning. She has insurance and enough cash for her needs. She's not, for example, a single mother who's lost her rental housing and way to get to work and who has $20 in the bank.
I or people I love have been touched by four massive fires in different locations in the past six years. The flow of internal refugees, of perennially houseless people, is increasing exponentially. Climate change is coming for all of us, and capitalism is not going to save us.
Articles about the serious hazards of smoke damage are hitting right now. Much higher risk of dementia is one of them. I only got and used a HEPA filter a few years ago. Now I worry.
I’m glad you were able to get out a second time, as heart wrenching as it must have been.
I’m waiting to confirm with him what he wants. I’m thinking I will try to coordinate a type of hard copy music drive for him though, since that was his whole life. I will absolutely be posting when the time comes, and I appreciate you asking!
I live in Northern California and every year the fires get closer and "fire season" gets extended. I feel like at this point it's not a matter of "if" but "when" for some natural disaster to come for each and every one of us...
Can you post Barry’s last name? GoFundMe had 75 pages of names when I checked.
I also grew up in fire country (NECal) and duplicate your quick-go list with a later-in-life addition: a number of fireproof containers, including two of the grab-and-go variety. Our experience was that you’re home only 50% of the time when it hits the fan.
One of my best friends lost his house in the Camp Fire, but thanks to email I knew where to send the check. Times they are a’changin’ …
Wow. I'm so sorry for Barry. What harrowing stories will people keep close to their hearts, with no one to tell how they ran, how they chose what to save, what was left behind?
We face this every summer but have been fortunate so far. As a former firefighter it's interesting to be on the evacuation side. I wonder if your Dad jumped with my friend Roger who was killed on the South Canyon fire in 1994.
I evacuated in October from a late season fire that we didn't expect to grow in the Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming. I was home on the east coast for the weekend for a wedding and I was constantly checking OnX and Find My Friends to check and see what was happening.
I landed at 6:30 PM on a Tuesday and was at my house by 8:30 PM. By 10:45 we were out the door evacuating 40 horses at the neighbors, by 1:30 AM we were back home getting our horses and dogs and cats. I came back at 4:30 AM to get the last car and the cat we couldn't grab the first time and could see it creeping across the pasture towards us. I asked my friend who I was riding with if he thought we could save the 3,000 cows between the fire line and us, he said he figured they were a complete loss.
Thank goodness, when we woke up in the morning, the winds had shifted and it had stopped three miles from the house (which looking back seems like such a long ways, but at 4:30 AM on no sleep, it looked like I could reach out and touch it), and all of the cows were grazing happily on the unburned side of the pasture, but I still have nightmares about it.
All in all, it wasn't a news worthy tragedy; only two houses lost and no casualties (thank god), but for the people who call this corner of the planet home? It tested relationships, frayed bonds between neighbors, showed people who really cared and who didn't, and of course is now a constant topic of conversation for every. single. get together.
It's rural Wyoming, of course we are going to blame the government. But also? 937 people from almost all 50 states and countless number of federal and state agencies showed up to help us, and as much as we want to think we could have done it without them, I know we would be mourning a lot more if they hadn't have come. I don't have answers, just a lot of questions and dichotomies, but as I watch this week with the LA fires, I have been plunged back into the survival state that I lived in for two weeks in October, and I feel for every single person who had to evacuate and especially those that don't have anything to return to.
..."as I watch this week with the LA fires, I have been plunged back into the survival state that I lived in for two weeks in October..." Yes. It's like PTSD.
It 100% is. I’ve always been so cautious using the word trauma to describe experiences I’ve had, but my therapist told me it was okay to call the fire traumatic because IT WAS
In August 2021, we watched news of the Caldor fire creeping up our canyon while in Alaska for four anxious days before our flight home to CA. By that point our neighborhood was under an evacuation warning. We were allowed through the road closure, and used a borrowed trailer to empty as many valuable and sentimental items as we could. It was another 6 days before the fire actually reached the neighborhood, taking 90% of the homes and doing huge amounts of damage to the independent ski resort nearby. Luckily the winds finally calmed enough for them to save South Lake Tahoe. My in laws have doorbell cam footage of the fire fighters holding the line just across the street. Despite being under insured, we were able to rebuild, and finally got to move home exactly 3 years later to the day. If my in-laws’ house had gone too, I’m not sure they’d have been able.
Four months later, in December 2021, my husband’s cousin lost his home in the Boulder fires. We got lucky to get so many things out, they did not.
We lost our homes, and that displacement alone was traumatic and unmooring. My heart is shattered for all the people in LA who have lost so much more. Their entire communities, I can’t even imagine.
Every single frightening climate event Al Gore predicted twenty five years ago- it’s on our nightly news each night! How different our plant might be today if he had taken office and owned the power to fight for change all those years ago!
I recognized him in the group at Carter’s funeral. Thought the same thing. W Bush stole that election with the hanging chads fraud. He has a lot to answer for. Nothing ‘cute’ about that looting old liar.
The CA oil companies should be paying for everything lost in this latest fire.
I’ll be writing to every one of my federal representatives demanding that disaster relief be FAIR, speedy and not politicized as has tainted the poor souls after Helene. I’ll specifically be writing to what GOP reps we have to rise above their baser urges and do the right thing by CA.
Horrific loss and shattered lives are quietly happening every damn day in this country as VC vampires destroy affordable housing for millionaire’s new investments.
I know. I’m one of them. I could save some of my history, but vast amounts of rare books, killer vintage, family photos, even my potted tree collection, were all destroyed. I’m not photogenic, on social media or anything else. So nobody really cared. It could happen to more people than they want to believe.
EVERY DAY. The tens of thousands of Californians that have over-crowded our city are going to turn into hundreds of thousands in the next few years, bringing all their consumptive habits with them.
Thank you for making this post public - I have shared it to my Facebook page and in an email to my family. My brother and niece both lost their homes in the Camp Fire in 2018; it was four hours after we learned that people were dying while trying to evacuate that we heard from him and learned that he was all right. (He had insurance, but it was six months before he had permanent housing, and his life was turned upside down). In July 2022 the off grid house I had lived in years earlier burned down in the McKinney Fire in Klamath National Forest. In September 2022 I evacuated from the Cedar Creek Fire in Willamette National Forest; the town of Oakridge, where I live now, was under mandatory evacuation. The east wind was blowing the fire directly toward the town and for twelve hours, monitoring Facebook reports from Portland, I was convinced that I was going to lose my house. I didn't. The firefighters couldn't stop it, but at the last minute the winds changed and saved the town. When I returned, the smoke drove me away again; that September Oakridge sometimes literally had the worst air quality in the world.
Right now, my sister and her cat are evacuees from the Eaton Fire, staying with friends until they move into an Airbnb next week. My sister is one of the few lucky ones - her house survived with only smoke damage and damage to a tree and awning. She has insurance and enough cash for her needs. She's not, for example, a single mother who's lost her rental housing and way to get to work and who has $20 in the bank.
I or people I love have been touched by four massive fires in different locations in the past six years. The flow of internal refugees, of perennially houseless people, is increasing exponentially. Climate change is coming for all of us, and capitalism is not going to save us.
Holy shit Gail. I’m so sorry for your family’s losses and so glad everyone is ok.
Articles about the serious hazards of smoke damage are hitting right now. Much higher risk of dementia is one of them. I only got and used a HEPA filter a few years ago. Now I worry.
I’m glad you were able to get out a second time, as heart wrenching as it must have been.
My heart is aching for Barry - despite him not thinking himself worthy, is there any way we can help him?
I’m waiting to confirm with him what he wants. I’m thinking I will try to coordinate a type of hard copy music drive for him though, since that was his whole life. I will absolutely be posting when the time comes, and I appreciate you asking!
We definitely have some vinyl we can send along - thanks for sharing his story.
That Twitter quote is terrifyingly trenchant.
Can only imagine the response given that the user deleted it.
Head in the sand. That's what most folks want. Heck, I suppose even we are that way to a certain extent. Sigh...
I live in Northern California and every year the fires get closer and "fire season" gets extended. I feel like at this point it's not a matter of "if" but "when" for some natural disaster to come for each and every one of us...
Same. We’re not immune to wildfire even at this altitude.
This is so powerful. I can't imagine.
Well said.
Can you post Barry’s last name? GoFundMe had 75 pages of names when I checked.
I also grew up in fire country (NECal) and duplicate your quick-go list with a later-in-life addition: a number of fireproof containers, including two of the grab-and-go variety. Our experience was that you’re home only 50% of the time when it hits the fan.
One of my best friends lost his house in the Camp Fire, but thanks to email I knew where to send the check. Times they are a’changin’ …
Waiting to confirm it’s something he wants and needs! Thank you for asking 🙏🏼💓
Got it ✅
Wow. I'm so sorry for Barry. What harrowing stories will people keep close to their hearts, with no one to tell how they ran, how they chose what to save, what was left behind?
🙏🏼💔
We face this every summer but have been fortunate so far. As a former firefighter it's interesting to be on the evacuation side. I wonder if your Dad jumped with my friend Roger who was killed on the South Canyon fire in 1994.
He said Roger doesn’t ring a bell, but he did jump with a guy named Jim Thrash who died in that fire.
Jim was a mentor to Roger, it was Roger's second year. Roger Roth. Gosh it feels like yesterday.
It’s a dangerous job and I’m grateful to everyone who does it.
I evacuated in October from a late season fire that we didn't expect to grow in the Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming. I was home on the east coast for the weekend for a wedding and I was constantly checking OnX and Find My Friends to check and see what was happening.
I landed at 6:30 PM on a Tuesday and was at my house by 8:30 PM. By 10:45 we were out the door evacuating 40 horses at the neighbors, by 1:30 AM we were back home getting our horses and dogs and cats. I came back at 4:30 AM to get the last car and the cat we couldn't grab the first time and could see it creeping across the pasture towards us. I asked my friend who I was riding with if he thought we could save the 3,000 cows between the fire line and us, he said he figured they were a complete loss.
Thank goodness, when we woke up in the morning, the winds had shifted and it had stopped three miles from the house (which looking back seems like such a long ways, but at 4:30 AM on no sleep, it looked like I could reach out and touch it), and all of the cows were grazing happily on the unburned side of the pasture, but I still have nightmares about it.
All in all, it wasn't a news worthy tragedy; only two houses lost and no casualties (thank god), but for the people who call this corner of the planet home? It tested relationships, frayed bonds between neighbors, showed people who really cared and who didn't, and of course is now a constant topic of conversation for every. single. get together.
It's rural Wyoming, of course we are going to blame the government. But also? 937 people from almost all 50 states and countless number of federal and state agencies showed up to help us, and as much as we want to think we could have done it without them, I know we would be mourning a lot more if they hadn't have come. I don't have answers, just a lot of questions and dichotomies, but as I watch this week with the LA fires, I have been plunged back into the survival state that I lived in for two weeks in October, and I feel for every single person who had to evacuate and especially those that don't have anything to return to.
..."as I watch this week with the LA fires, I have been plunged back into the survival state that I lived in for two weeks in October..." Yes. It's like PTSD.
It 100% is. I’ve always been so cautious using the word trauma to describe experiences I’ve had, but my therapist told me it was okay to call the fire traumatic because IT WAS
In August 2021, we watched news of the Caldor fire creeping up our canyon while in Alaska for four anxious days before our flight home to CA. By that point our neighborhood was under an evacuation warning. We were allowed through the road closure, and used a borrowed trailer to empty as many valuable and sentimental items as we could. It was another 6 days before the fire actually reached the neighborhood, taking 90% of the homes and doing huge amounts of damage to the independent ski resort nearby. Luckily the winds finally calmed enough for them to save South Lake Tahoe. My in laws have doorbell cam footage of the fire fighters holding the line just across the street. Despite being under insured, we were able to rebuild, and finally got to move home exactly 3 years later to the day. If my in-laws’ house had gone too, I’m not sure they’d have been able.
Four months later, in December 2021, my husband’s cousin lost his home in the Boulder fires. We got lucky to get so many things out, they did not.
We lost our homes, and that displacement alone was traumatic and unmooring. My heart is shattered for all the people in LA who have lost so much more. Their entire communities, I can’t even imagine.
Every single frightening climate event Al Gore predicted twenty five years ago- it’s on our nightly news each night! How different our plant might be today if he had taken office and owned the power to fight for change all those years ago!
I recognized him in the group at Carter’s funeral. Thought the same thing. W Bush stole that election with the hanging chads fraud. He has a lot to answer for. Nothing ‘cute’ about that looting old liar.
The CA oil companies should be paying for everything lost in this latest fire.
I’ll be writing to every one of my federal representatives demanding that disaster relief be FAIR, speedy and not politicized as has tainted the poor souls after Helene. I’ll specifically be writing to what GOP reps we have to rise above their baser urges and do the right thing by CA.
Horrific loss and shattered lives are quietly happening every damn day in this country as VC vampires destroy affordable housing for millionaire’s new investments.
I know. I’m one of them. I could save some of my history, but vast amounts of rare books, killer vintage, family photos, even my potted tree collection, were all destroyed. I’m not photogenic, on social media or anything else. So nobody really cared. It could happen to more people than they want to believe.
EVERY DAY. The tens of thousands of Californians that have over-crowded our city are going to turn into hundreds of thousands in the next few years, bringing all their consumptive habits with them.