Third fire he’s endured, now he faces firing

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

Qualcomm Stadium:

Saturday was his day off and Tim Bright of Ramona decided to take his family on a day trip to Yuma to visit relatives.

The family of four, Amanda, 33, Ivy, 3, and Matthew, 2, took only a change of clothes.

The Santa Ana winds were beginning to stir but Bright, 42, didn’t give it a second thought.

Sunday morning, as they drove home, the news reports about the Malibu fire began. High winds forced them to turn around at El Centro.

‘Late Sunday we heard a report about a San Diego fire but most Ramona stations were preoccupied with the Malibu fire,’ said Bright, a tow-truck driver.

The family learned about the fire in Ramona in El Centro on their way to San Diego. It was a tense five-hour drive from there, made worse when Bright heard that law enforcement officials had closed access to Ramona.

The family pulled into Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego at 4 p.m. Monday.

‘We don’t know if we own anything other than what we have with us and in our van,’ said Amanda Bright. ‘We keep asking people if our apartment is still standing. But nobody knows.’

The fire is a painful reminder of a 1974 wildfire that destroyed his family’s home in Harbison Canyon, east of downtown San Diego, said Tim Bright.

‘This is the third devastating fire that has affected my life, ‘ he said. ‘I hope to God it’s the last.’

On Tuesday, Bright got some more bad news. The tow truck company he works for in El Cajon threatened to fire him if he did not report for work, he said.

‘I’m homeless for all practical purposes,’ he said. ‘They want me to leave my wife and kids in a tent in parking lot. We have nowhere to go and now I may not have a job.’

-- H. G. Reza