One family’s ordeal

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Steve Yingling and his family, who have lived in the area since 1990, spent the night at a Motel 6 after evacuating their neighborhood Sunday afternoon.

Yingling said he had been particularly worried about fires this year because it’s been so dry. ‘We should have known something bad was going to happen,’ said Yingling, sports editor at the Tahoe Daily Tribune.

The family’s house was one of six located on a canyon road near where the fire started. The family evacuated about 2 p.m. Sunday and were able to save their dog but couldn’t find their cat, Yingling said.

‘But the cat is pretty resourceful, having lived up there with the coyotes all these years,’ he said. Yingling said his sons, Connor, 14, and Jordan, 15, were taking it all pretty hard. ‘It’s hitting them just like it’s hitting us,’ he said. ‘Every 30 or 40 minutes you think of something else you’ve lost.’

Connor said that when he and his brother first smelled smoke they rode their bikes down to the area where the fire was burning a couple of miles from their house. ‘I did something I shouldn’t have done,’ he said. ‘But I saw how bad it was.’

(continued below)

-- Eric Bailey

Connor said that as they arrived at the scene, large pine trees in the meadow were on fire, people were running around shouting, and the police went door to door telling residents to leave the area. The boys rode home as fast as they could.

A few minutes later, police were going through the neighborhood with a loudspeaker telling people to evacuate. The family quickly packed up their valuables. Connor said he grabbed his baseball and basketball cards, but he wasn’t able to get other memorabilia, including his sports jerseys. He said he also lost his eighth-grade graduation plaque. ‘It’s going to be tough,’ he said, as he started to cry. ‘I had no idea it [the fire] was going to be so effective....’