Reporting from Oroville, Calif. — Leanne Beck did everything she could to guard against wildfire.
She and her husband Mike moved into their 40-acre refuge below Oroville Lake just after the Swede’s Flat fire of 2013. Their property was right on the char line where the state had laid a backfire to stop the wildfire in its tracks.
In the following four years they cut brush and did their best to build a defensible space.
So on Friday, Beck and her husband hung tight when Butte County deputies drove through with loudspeakers and ordered the evacuation of a large swath of mountain properties along Chinese Wall Road. On Saturday morning, Leanne and Mike stood at the top of their property and watched bulldozers cut a corral around the eastern edge of the growing fire.
But when the ridge itself exploded in flames later Saturday afternoon, the couple packed up the dogs and fled.
We’ve been sitting here for three days, not knowing, and now, you don’t want to know.
— Leanne Beck
1/25
From left, firefighters Aaron Williams, Lyle Bennett Robert Larios and Captain Crawford Gunn, with San Bernardino National Forest put out hot spots Monday morning along State Highway 154 in the Santa Ynez Valley of Santa Barbara County.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 2/25
A burned sign warns of fire danger at The Outdoor School at Rancho Alegre Boy Scout camp Monday morning along State Highway 154 in the Santa Ynez Valley.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 3/25
Metal boats burned in the Whittier Fire at The Outdoor School at Rancho Alegre Boy Scout camp Monday morning along State Highway 154 in Santa Barbara County.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 4/25
Firefighter Aaron Williams with San Bernardino National Forest works to put out hot spots Monday morning along State Highway 154 in the Santa Ynez Valley.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 5/25
A plane drops retardant while battling a wildfire near Oroville.
(Noah Berger / Associated Press) 6/25
Jim Berglund sprays water while defending his home as a wildfire approaches near Oroville.
(Noah Berger / Associated Press) 7/25
A charred desk rests outside a residence after a wildfire burned through the property near Oroville.
(Noah Berger / Associated Press) 8/25
Lake Cachuma is the backdrop for the gray ashen landscape as the Whittier fire continues to burn on the western flank on the north side of the Santa Ynez Mountains Monday afternoon along State Highway 154 in the Santa Ynez Valley.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 9/25
Little remains of the structures burned at The Outdoor School at Rancho Alegre Boy Scout camp Monday morning along State Highway 154 in the Santa Ynez Valley.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 10/25
Santa Barbara Deputy Sheriff B. Bruening, left, and U.S. Fish & Wildlife game warden Max Magleby view a jeep that was abandoned and scorched by the Whittier fire along State Route 154 in the Los Padres National Forest near Lake Cachuma.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 11/25
A firefighting helicopter draws water from Lake Cachuma while fighting the Whittier fire in the Los Padres National Forest near Lake Cachuma.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 12/25
A firefighting helicopter gets into position to make a water drop on the Whittier fire as it burns toward State Route 154 in the Los Padres National Forest near Lake Cachuma.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 13/25
Structures and vehicles burned at The Outdoor School at Rancho Alegre Boy Scout camp Monday morning along State Highway 154 in the Santa Ynez Valley of Santa Barbara County.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 14/25
U.S. Forest Service firefighters put out spot fires from the Whittier fire along State Route 154 in the Los Padres National Forest near Lake Cachuma.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 15/25
The remains of a structure and boats scorched by the Whittier fire along State Route 154 in the Los Padres National Forest near Lake Cachuma.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 16/25
The Whittier fire burns toward State Route 154 in the Los Padres National Forest near Lake Cachuma in Santa Barbara County.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 17/25
A smokey pall hangs over Santa Barbara from a new wildfire near Lake Cachuma.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 18/25
Firefighters look on as a helicopter drops water on the Alamo fire near Santa Maria.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 19/25
A hot spot burns ahead of the Alamo fire near Santa Maria.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 20/25
A firefighter maneuvers his vehicle down a private road as the Alamo fire burns near Santa Maria.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 21/25
The Whittier fire burns through the night near Santa Barbara. The Whittier fire and the Alamo fire.
(David McNew / Getty Images) 22/25
Firefighters battle a wildfire as it threatens to jump a road near Oroville. Evening winds drove the fire through several neighborhoods, leveling homes in its path.
(Noah Berger / Associated Press) 23/25
Doors lay in a pile of rubble after a fire tore through a residential neighborhood near Oroville.
(Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 24/25
A car and house are engulfed in flames as the Wall fire burns through a residential area in Oroville.
(Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 25/25
Sean Greenlaw views his truck covered in fire retardant as a smoke plume billows in the background near Oroville.
(Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) On Monday morning, at the Red Cross shelter in Oroville, Beck stood stunned by the news a weeping neighbor had given her. Their double-wide had been turned to cinders.
“I feel like I’m 102 right now,” said Beck, a 60-year-old retiree whose husband still works at a software job. The couple was unsure what to do next. “We’ve been sitting here for three days, not knowing, and now, you don’t want to know.”
State emergency responders said Monday that 17 structures so far have been destroyed by the uncontained Wall fire, and five others have been damaged. Thousands of Butte County residents were under evacuation orders. Many of their properties bordered the area where residents were forced leave in winter when the spillway of the Oroville Dam threatened collapse.
“We have a joke about Oroville,” said Red Cross shelter manager Pam Deditch, a local resident who during non-emergencies works as a behavioral health counselor for the county. “Here, it’s hell or high water.”
She chuckled at the dark humor. Her own house is in a voluntary evacuation zone.
Some 115 people remained at the shelter Monday morning, where evacuees could watch the fire’s progress from the parking lot. (Fire maps showed the eastern side of the Wall fire had been stopped, but the fire remained untamed on its long western boundary, where it threatened 5,400 homes.)
As she spoke, Beck’s eyes began to water but she blinked back the tears and laughed at what she and her husband had grabbed when they left their house for the last time.
It was a weed cutter, still boxed, and too late to put to work cutting tall grass and brush that might help a fire take hold and spread.
Her thought at that moment: “maybe I can return this.”
paige.stjohn@latimes.com
For updates and more, follow @paigestjohn.
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