This weekend, fires are again devastating parts of Southern California. I wrote the following about October's Marek fire - also in Sylmar. Once again some of the most vulnerable have lost everything as fires decimated yet another mobile home park where many elderly and disadvantaged people once lived.
Video of The Marek Fire in Lopez Canyon near Skyview Mobile Home Park:
(Blue Star Mobile Home Park, mentioned in the following, is at the bottom of Lopez Canyon)
When Linda Sneddon speaks of the chaotic evacuation from the Blue Star Mobile Home Park in Sylmar on the early morning of October 13, she chokes up with anger.
"If they only would have evacuated us a little sooner, we would have been able to get our pets and everything out OK."
But they didn't have that chance. Her dog and two cats were lost in the fire that consumed her mobile home and all of her belongings. By the time police drove through the park and bellowed immediate evacuation orders from a PA system at 5 a.m., flames from the Marek fire could be seen on the hill with heavy winds carrying them toward Sneddon's home. Her pets had scattered and hid during the commotion and she had no time to find them.
Video of The Marek Fire in Lopez Canyon near Skyview Mobile Home Park:
(Blue Star Mobile Home Park, mentioned in the following, is at the bottom of Lopez Canyon)
When Linda Sneddon speaks of the chaotic evacuation from the Blue Star Mobile Home Park in Sylmar on the early morning of October 13, she chokes up with anger.
"If they only would have evacuated us a little sooner, we would have been able to get our pets and everything out OK."
But they didn't have that chance. Her dog and two cats were lost in the fire that consumed her mobile home and all of her belongings. By the time police drove through the park and bellowed immediate evacuation orders from a PA system at 5 a.m., flames from the Marek fire could be seen on the hill with heavy winds carrying them toward Sneddon's home. Her pets had scattered and hid during the commotion and she had no time to find them.
Sneddon, 72, takes slow deliberate steps and leans on the arm of her nephew,
On the morning of the fire, there were no evacuation teams to help residents to safety. To make matters worse, the management of the Blue Star Park locked all but one exit causing a massive traffic jam that trapped more than 150 residents inside while the fire drew closer. ""It was close enough that I felt it burning on my face," said Rick. "The air was full of smoke and ash."
Neighbor Myrna Geick also expressed frustration with the disorganized evacuation. She was caught in the car with her 5-year-old granddaughter for over two hours trying to get out of the Blue Star Park. "I figured we were gonna die there. We couldn't breathe. I just wanted to run, but where?"
Her mobile home sustained only minor damage but much of her furniture, clothing, and food was ruined by the thick smoke and soot that filled the complex as they waited to escape. Now she can't get rid of the smell.
Susan Friend, who runs 3-acre Goldspirit Farm in Kagel Canyon, said, "The fire department is great at fighting fires, the evacuation was another story." Friend, who is still fighting to extinguish embers in her hay pile, had to evacuate 25 horses from her ranch as the fire swept around her property, burning her next-door neighbor's home and scorching the surrounding hillsides.At the time, emergency personnel had cut off access into Kagel Canyon so horse trailers could not get in to evacuate horses. Friend loaded nine horses into her personal trailer and sent them out but there were 16 remaining. "There were flames licking at the horses' butts," said Friend, who eventually convinced the CHP to let an Animal Control trailer through to get them out.
(video taken with my still camera showing burned house on opposite side of ridge from Friend's property)
The metal stables were unharmed by the fire and the wide swath of bare dirt horse track around her home kept the fire at bay. Friend doesn't take chances living in fire country. She clears brush around the perimeter and has an evacuation plan of her own posted next to the phone with important numbers and a checklist of procedures.
Representatives with the state Office of Emergency Services distributed preparedness guides at the Marek Fire Assistance Center and encouraged area residents to work with their local Fire Station on developing a community evacuation plan.
With one disaster behind her, Susan Friend is already looking ahead to the next. She's lining the burn areas on her property with burlap. The barren hillsides provide the perfect environment for mudslides and erosion when the winter rains come.
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