‘We Didn’t Burn,’ Mountain Resorts Want Tourists to Know

In hopes of rekindling the lagging tourism industry in fire-ravaged mountain communities, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors today is expected to approve an ad campaign to remind tourists that most popular attractions in Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear Lake were spared from the flames.

The Old fire, which charred more than 91,000 acres, took a heavy toll on the early tourism season in mountain communities. The entire mountain was evacuated for nearly two weeks, and some mountain roads remain closed.

Although the fires are out, tourists are reluctant to return, causing a 10% to 50% drop in business at inns, taverns, restaurants and shops, according to business owners and tourism officials.

In an attempt to salvage the winter season, supervisors will consider launching 100 radio ads starting next month on more than half a dozen Los Angeles radio stations. The ads, costing up to $50,000 in all, will be paid for by a business partnership under an agreement that allows the partners to operate the county-owned Hyundai Pavilion at Glen Helen Regional Park.

“We want to get across the point that we didn’t burn down,” said Leslie McLellan, marketing director for the Lake Arrowhead Communities Chamber of Commerce.

County officials have reason to want to rekindle tourism in the mountains. At least 12.5 million people visited Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear Lake last year, spending an estimated $200 million, according to local tourism officials.

The Old fire prompted stark images on television and newspaper reports of entire communities up in flames. Ten commercial business were destroyed, but the wildfire scorched no hotels, lodges, ski resorts or bed-and-breakfast establishments, many of which were miles from the fire.

“The fire burned all around us, but we are like an oasis,” said David Dufour, owner of the Arrowhead Pine Rose Cabins in Twin Peaks.

Based on phone calls that mountain business owners have received in recent weeks, some tourists assume that the entire mountain -- including shops, lodges and hotels -- went up in flames.

Dufour, who owns 17 cabins on five acres, blames such assumptions for a 10% drop in business this week compared to the same period last year.

Dorothy Stone, owner of the Eagle’s Landing Bed and Breakfast in Lake Arrowhead, said she is normally booked over the Thanksgiving weekend. But she had only one couple stay at her bed and breakfast this holiday weekend.

Not everyone is suffering, however. The storms that helped extinguish the Southern California wildfires at the end of October also brought a dusting of snow, allowing ski resorts near Big Bear Lake to open early and coat slopes with man-made snow.

About 15,000 skiers and snowboarders visited Snow Summit and Bear Mountain ski resorts during the Thanksgiving weekend, more than double the number for the same weekend last year, resort officials said.

But the extra snow and good skiing weather have done little to boost tourism for the mountain’s hospitality industry.

Iris Beatty, manager of North Shore Cabins on the shore of Big Bear Lake, said her 10 cabins were booked Thanksgiving weekend, but she still has vacancies for the Christmas holiday weekend. In past years, Beatty said, every cabin was reserved for Christmas by this date.

Based on conversations with other lodge owners, she estimates that reservations are down 50% in the Big Bear Lake area.

In Lake Arrowhead, the commercial center is Lake Arrowhead Village, a resort center crammed with 100 shops, restaurants, antique stores and clothing outlets. During the fires, the entire village was evacuated for nearly two weeks. In the first two weeks after the fires were extinguished, business dropped about 50%, according to business leaders.