Fire precautions don’t always help
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Modjeska Canyon:
Sobbing as she surveyed the remains of her burned-out Modjeska Canyon home, Sue Geraci was grabbed by friends who kept her from collapsing.
“We have a pump house and water tank,” she said. “Our house was supposed to be fire-proof.”
Geraci and Brian Joley moved into the multimillion-dollar house about five years ago. Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Keith Davis from San Clemente said that a neighbor’s pine trees exploded “like a roman candle” today, sending burning embers across the roof to the attic, and from there, “it just got the house.”
On Monday night the home was probably defensible, but firefighters were overwhelmed by the high temperatures and winds that swept through Modjeska Canyon. Some hadn’t slept in two days. One 21-member strike team was on a bus waiting for a relief crew to arrive so they could get some rest.
Team leader John McMasters said homeowners didn’t help matters by refusing to evacuate.
“Residents were evacuated by sheriffs, and we had to stop what we were doing to let the sheriff’s deputies escort them out,” McMasters said.
Bruce McDougal, 54, a homebuilder, had spent three months clearing brush and trees to meet an insurance company deadline to set up a 100-foot clearance around his house.
McDougal, who built his Santiago Canyon house, refused to leave it because “it took a long time to build it.”
Early today, McMasters’ strike team arrived and told McDougal his house would be next to burn if he didn’t get his eucalyptus trees down.
“I said I’ve got two chain saws down in my garage, have at it,” McDougal said.
Just down the road, Allen Aksu, McDougal’s neighbor, said he wanted to see the fire being fought with more water-carrying helicopters and big tankers.
Aksu thanked animal control officers who took dozens of rabbits and chickens from his ranch to a shelter.
-- David Reyes and Karen Tapia