Fire Victims Stoically Assess Damage

Jim Ray sat on a milk crate in front of his feed store, spit out a stream of chewing tobacco and refused to feel sorry for himself.

He had watched helplessly this week as his two-story home went up in flames along with 50 other houses destroyed by a wildfire that roared through this rural Northern California community.

“You can’t do nothing about it,” Ray said. “No sense whining about it.”

His resolute attitude echoed throughout Happy Valley in the aftermath of the wind-whipped blaze that began Sunday and raced through the enclave of five- and 10-acre homesteads.

The fire was one of more than a dozen that have blackened parts of Northern California in recent weeks. Several blazes continue to burn over more than 156,000 acres, the largest in Big Sur, where residents of 40 homes have been evacuated, and the Trinity Alps Wilderness northwest of Redding.

Though far smaller than many of the others, the Happy Valley fire was by far the most devastating to homes and property. All around the oak-studded community of 3,000 about 10 miles south of Redding, houses and mobile homes were reduced to ashes. Among them was the home where 79-year-old Evelyn Carpenter has lived for more than half a century. On Wednesday, Carpenter picked through the charred remains of her house and was surprised to find that her wedding album had survived, with only the edges singed.

An additional 124 barns and other outbuildings were destroyed. No residents were hurt, though four firefighters suffered injuries, authorities said.

The inferno began Sunday morning, when many residents were returning from church or shopping. The suspected culprit was a pickup truck that was pulling a trailer with its loading ramp down, throwing sparks into the dry grass along a road. Fires caught in three spots, and set off on a path of destruction through the heart of the community, driven by winds gusting to 35 mph.

Despite a mandatory evacuation order, several homeowners stayed behind. Mike Carstens battled the flames with a garden hose until the flames felled power poles, cutting off electricity to the pump for his well. He flagged down a firetruck, borrowing a portable pump to continue the fight, and half drained his pool in the process.

Eventually, that pump also failed, reducing Carstens and a few neighbors to a bucket brigade. It worked. His house and barn were left standing, though Carstens was still coughing up smoke Wednesday.

“There were a couple of times I went to my knees--I couldn’t breath, I couldn’t see,” he recalled. “I thought that was it. But I made it through.”

Residents left homeless by the fire were embraced this week by a community that quickly stepped up to help.

Volunteers flooded the local Baptist Church and youth center, bringing canned goods and helping distribute donations such as shoes and silverware, blankets and breakfast cereal.

Veterinarians opened kennels and corrals for stray cats and dogs, and a pony found running loose. A farmer donated eight tons of hay for the horses of burned-out homeowners.

A few Good Samaritans offered the use of their vacant travel trailers as temporary shelter, though most residents ended up staying with relatives.

People from across the United States have sent money to help and local officials have applied for disaster assistance from the state and federal governments.

“We have had an overwhelming response from around the community, and from all over the country,” said Marion Bauer, a Happy Valley mother of two now running the emergency center. “It’s all been pretty devastating, but it has brought people together.”

To the south, in Big Sur, 2,700 firefighters continued Wednesday to battle two stubborn blazes that have scorched nearly 57,000 acres since they were sparked three weeks ago by lightning.

The Hare fire in the southern part of Big Sur forced the evacuations this week along five miles of coastline near Lucia. It also is burning near a Benedictine monastery in the mountains above Lucia, the New Camaldoli Hermitage.

Most of the resident monks left last week. But a few have remained, praying, feeding fire crews the fruitcake they bake and sell over the Internet, and even counseling firefighters, said Tony Akin, information officer with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Fire lines have been dug around the coastal hamlet of Lucia as well as the monastery.

Remote, steep terrain and dense growth have hindered efforts to quench the wildfire, which was 22% contained Wednesday. Air tankers are dropping water, but “You just can’t get people in” some spots, Akin said.

Earlier this week hot, dry weather also was a problem, but Wednesday the temperature dipped into the 80s and humidity levels rose.

Fire crews have gained more ground against the Tassajara fire in the northern part of Big Sur. That blaze, which was 45% contained, has incinerated more than 29,000 acres of the Ventana Wilderness but was not threatening any homes.

Much farther to the north, in the Trinity Alps Wilderness northwest of Redding, several lightning fires have merged, consuming about 80,000 acres and keeping nearly 2,000 firefighters busy. Late Monday, a 42-year-old member of a camp support crew died of a heart attack during an evacuation of the fire crew camp.

Elsewhere, 14,000 acres are burning in a sparsely populated, rugged part of western Tehama County, forcing some evacuations. And 6,000 acres in Rumsey in Yolo County north of the Bay Area also are in flames.

Despite the number of blazes, the fire season is about normal so far this year, according to forestry department figures. Nearly 110,000 acres have burned statewide, compared to a recent annual average of nearly 107,000 acres by this time of year.

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California Fires

Several fires this month in California have burned tens of thousands of acres. A member of a fire camp support crew died of an apparent heart attack Monday during the Trinity Alps Wilderness fire.