Patti Diener – Page 7 – Patti Diener / Author

Perennial As The Grass

fire-grass Since the fire

(and I’m talking about the Clayton Fire), I lost my drive to write. I found my voice enough to write about what happened with my family during and immediately following the fire, but since then, something felt snuffed out inside of me. I lost my ability to write.

These past few weeks have nearly sent me into a panic, wondering if I would be able to finish my book! I have felt distracted……… disconnected……. uninterested…….. and dare I say……….. depressed!

But this weekend, when I was setting things in motion to celebrate my youngest child’s 19th birthday, I was reminded by her to look outside at the yard. She said, “Mom! Go out and take pictures of the grass that’s growing! Was it there last night? I don’t remember seeing it yesterday! It’s like your book! OUT OF THE ASHES! Mom, you need to go out and look.”

Emma made me see that just as I’ve been writing, the earth is renewing itself, just as we all are. It is a splendid thing to behold!

I had my windows replaced on the east side of my house, and just this week I realized that my husband had been rounding up items into a pile that we are going to put into a dumpster, whenever we get around to clearing our property. I barely look out into our side or backyard when I get home, because it’s so changed. The front is the same. If I put blinders on of my blackened pasture, my absent or blackened trees, and completely deviate from looking into the backyard all together, I won’t see anything depressing. I have been living in the denial area so I cannot get sad or depressed.

My husband is very wise and told me whenever I look into the backyard and feel like crying over the fact that our entire oak and pine forest is destroyed right up to our house, I should realize and be grateful that we actually have a home! He of course is right. We are very blessed.

So now I am finally feeling like continuing my novel. It’s been awhile, but I’m finally ready to complete the saga. Gabriel and Sarah have waited long enough, and I now have a more closely related experience in dealing with the fires I was writing about.

From the Valley Fire to the Clayton Fire, my book Out Of The Ashes, will take on a voice more sincere then ever. It’s always recommended that you write what you know. Well, as of lately, I feel I am the perfect person to write this book. Having a husband in Lake County Fire, having personal friends lose their homes, and having been quite traumatized and experienced such a near loss ourselves, I think it’s the perfect time to finish the book. I only need to be brave enough to do it!

Thank you to everyone who has been sharing their experiences with me on this fire. We will surely persevere! Nothing can touch us now, and God bless each and every one of you who lost it all! I pray you are resilient, hopeful, and that your community will stand beside you. I have seen such humble offerings and selfless acts that it’s overwhelming. God bless our community for it’s unity under these circumstances.

I am truly honored to be a part of this community, these people, and this strange time. If we all do our small part to make someone else’s life better, then we will all benefit immensely as a community. To stand together is much stronger than to stand alone.

To paraphrase Scarlett O’Hara, “I can’t think about that right now. If I do I’ll just die. I’ll think about that tomorrow.” So let’s not think of bad or difficult things now, let us just think of our gratitude and positive solutions to push forward. For tomorrow looks promising and the sun will always rise.

God Bless You All.

Thanking Some Great Guys

These guys

from the U.S. Forest Service were here on our property for a few day doing clean up. They mopped up some hot spots but mostly had to remove dangerous trees that could promote hazardous situations. They worked tirelessly and offered help to do anything extra we needed.

“What else can we do for you?” they asked my husband.

Charlie said that if they had to fall trees anyway, to cut them into sections we could later split. If we had to lose our beautiful trees to the damned fire, at least we’d have wood to keep us warm during winter. Still, it’s sad.

So now

we have plenty of wood but not enough trees. I was disappointed when the insurance guy told us we’d lost a minimum of $20,000 in trees but our insurance company could only pay us $6,000 for them. Well isn’t THAT a pisser!

I’d like to try and do something symbolic with some of the trees that are still left along the hillsides but I have no idea what. Regardless, I am still grateful to have what we do!

Moving forward, we are looking at harvest for our vineyard to start this Saturday, September 17th. We need to stay positive and hope for a good grape and walnut harvest this season. It will be something to celebrate!

Thanks to all of you who have been following my blog. I smell Fall in the air these days. It is something I really am looking forward to.

Have a pleasant evening and restful weekend everyone!

Clayton Fire / Final Part 4

Ashes and soot

were all some found left of their homes when the repopulation to Lower Lake happened after the Clayton Fire. I came home to a lost yard, pool and deck area, blown windows, and fencing for the paddock. Others lost so much more! They lost it all!

I knew the clean up could be extensive, but I was anxious to return and happy to get going with it. I just wanted to be home! No matter what the condition of my house, I just wanted to try and make it pretty again. I found a new appreciation for what I had!

I admit, I made a deal with God. I simply said, “I know it’s not much. I know I’ve complained in the past that I wanted more or something else, but it’s ours! Please save it! It’s been our home all my married life!”

I wanted it saved because it’s where we became a family and it’s where my children still had their things, even though they are grown. Their life’s accomplishments were still in our house! I prayed and prayed. I don’t know why my home was saved and others were not, but I was still grateful. I harbor guilty feelings because I love my friends and neighbors who have such loss, but all the more for me to be grateful for what I have!

My father says something that I believe he coined the phrase to. He says, “You never go from what you have to what you want. You only go from what you want to what you GET.” I personally am now grateful that what I got was what I had to begin with. I don’t need what I use to WANT.

Driving up our driveway the first time I was allowed home was like driving up to the moon. It was ashen, dark, skeleton trees of black, and smelled of a campfire gone wrong. Our gate was tossed aside because the posts that it hung on burned. The driveway, gravel road before, had been turned to talcum powder from the heat and heavy equipment driving back and forth, trying to protect the area.

My backyard

looks like someone has been testing bombs there. Our fencing is gone, our creek full of debris and dead foliage, and the smell is beyond explanation. Not just smoky, but you can smell the dead earth!

The first order of business was to clean out the rotten refrigerator. It had sat without power for a week! The smell was atrocious!

Once I tackled the fridge, to my surprise, people came by to check on us from the Sheriff’s department to see if we needed anything. I also had random people sent from town that were working closely with the Lake County Fire Protection District to see if I needed to take things to a dumpster. Funny thing was, my own daughters and their boyfriends were working with them too, so I didn’t have to worry about getting all our garbage to a dumpster. And it was rank!

Later, I had the task of deciding what to tackle first. The place we put our faces to sleep came to mind. I washed bedding, curtains, flooring. I was glad the windows in the main house stayed in tact and the ones that blew were in our guest house, that was currently unoccupied besides my recent attempt of renovation to make it my writing office. Fallon, my oldest, had her bedroom pretty much violated with smoke out there. It’s something I haven’t yet begun to rectify.

Days went by and we had to go back to our normal lives, ready or not. Before I started school, (I’m a public school librarian), I had to go into my town, which my husband and I both grew up in, and take pictures of the places that burned before someone tore them all down. I was determined to have some kind of photographic proof that they were there, burned or not!

Driving and walking through some of our town, I stopped at my step-grandma’s house that I have many memories from, just off Main Street Lower Lake.

This Victorian

was well over 100 years old with history to both the town and my family. Now it is nothing more than a pile of rubble, burnt brush, and ash. I can still smell in memory, the house living room with a bear rug. The damp smell of my stepmom’s teenage bedroom, and the feel of the rickety stairs leading out back behind the house from her room, still are fresh in my mind. Now it seems so small. It was once this large, town icon, and now it’s footprint is so small in comparison.

The old firehouse

was so large in us kids’ eyes. The remains seem so small. I remember as a child, when my dad was a volunteer, that we would run around this pool table that was set in the middle of the firehouse. We’d wait there while our fathers were out on calls and if it got too late, the women of the area would come in and bring us food. I guess my father wasn’t the only single father of that time that was a member of the volunteer fire department in Lower Lake. But now the building is gone.

Here’s a little known fact! My husband’s father, Bill Diener Sr., was the fire chief of Lower Lake when my father was a volunteer fireman. My husband is 4 1/2 years older than me. We calculated that he and I were probably both running around the same fire department during the 70’s and never even met! Mostly because I’d have been considered a little kid to him, when I was running around there. But I wonder if his step-mom had been one of the women that fed us kids when we got stuck waiting there for our dads to come back from a fire. Even so, I wish I could remember if I’d ever seen him there when I was a kid.

Such memories! I grew up in Lower Lake and seeing the town burned made me very melancholy. Our friends, Phil and Betsy had lived in an old Victorian on Lake and 2nd street when I was growing up. It’s gone! Their property butted up against the Methodist Church that burned too.

This church

was where my children were baptized. This is where I taught Sunday School, and where I eventually received marriage counseling. It was a special place for me and my family. From my house, I could hear the bells ring each Sunday morning. Now, it is all gone!

On, and on it goes! I drove and saw good and bad. I saw that some of what was reported, (like in the Valley Fire) as burned and gone, still stood! Like the School House Museum was told to be burned and still stands! Some of what burned still surprised me. It was all very emotional.

My husband’s father’s home caught fire. It lost the garage and vehicles, and the back of the house was all that burned before fire personnel put it out.

Although his Dad

is long gone and my husband has nothing to do with this house, it is comforting to see it still stands. We don’t know the extent of the smoke damage or the integrity of the house at all, but it’s hopeful that it will still exist.

Life as usual eventually had to happen. We had to go back to work and try to live our lives as normal as possible. Whether you were blessed or cursed, you had to go on living life as usual eventually. It wasn’t, and isn’t all that easy.

Today, I still cry. I went to our friends, Barbara & Mike Haas’ house just last evening with my sister-in-law Kari, to give them flowers and cookies with a thank you card, just for letting us stay with them during the ordeal. Now, you might remember, we helped them save their house, but even though they brought that to our attention when we were there to say, thank you, we couldn’t let them forget that they saved us, when we needed sanctuary! I could never repay that kindness!

Time heals all wounds, they say. I often feel like I have nothing to heal from. I feel guilty for my tears of anxiety. I feel like I should be able to buck up from what we went through, when so many others lost it all! But the truth is, we all have our own demons and we heal in our own time.

My solution is to try to pay it forward! I’ve given to many folks that needed help. I’m still not done. I ask others, in my quest, to help our fellow neighbors and have so far been very successful. We’ve together, given a lot to many. I hope when our friends begin clean ups that insurances won’t pay for, that we will again help out! There is nothing we cannot do together.

Moving forward can be daunting. We must find the strength! I am ever so grateful to my community, for being the brave warriors who will not lie down in the face of adversity! They give me strength and make me want to give them strength too. Just like in a chain, we might have a weak link, but even a weak link gives a chain strength! We can do it together!

The Homecoming Parade and football games of Lower Lake made our town even stronger! I watched the channel 2 KTVU news with the segment of our tiny little town and thought, YES! THIS IS WHAT WE DO! We press forward and kick ass! I was oh, so proud!

http://www.ktvu.com/news/204162777-story

I’m hoping the website above works because it’s a video of the wonderful newscast of Lower Lake’s Homecoming Parade, less than a month after the terrible Clayton Fire.

In closing, I’d like to say, I probably will periodically put some of my thoughts on the Clayton Fire into this blog, but mostly I’m going to try to get back to why I started writing this in the first place……………that was to gain perspective in the Valley Fire and work on my romance novel called, Out Of The Ashes.

God bless, each and everyone of you! I hope the future proves to be less California wildland fires, and more peace for our people who have stressed for over a year now.

I’ll be talking to you!

Please, if you have a story you’d like to share regarding either the Valley Fire, the Clayton Fire, or just a comment in general, you can put it in the comments and I will get to it soon. I pray for each and everyone of you to have peace.

Clayton Fire / Part 3

lower-lake-fire I never loved

the color pink more than I do now. The air tankers painted our town that color to protect it from the alternative color of red. FIRE!

Above picture is from Google images, Clayton Fire.

Looking in my rearview mirror, this is basically what I saw as we headed out on that day, up to Diener Ranch and away from the flames and mayhem. Being alone on the drive out of town, following my daughter in my husband’s one-ton Dodge, and my sister-in-law behind me, I was both grateful for the time alone to process what we’d just been through, and also worried of everyone else’s state of mind.

As we pulled into our home place of the ranch, everyone parking near the old cabin, we each got out slowly and robotically. The dogs weren’t even their normal, jovial selves like they usually are when they come to the ranch. Usually they are excited and frolic. This time, they got out and remained nearby, walking around us confused and nervous.

We fed the dogs, watered them, and started to unpack suitcases from our cars so we could each shower.

We had water there!

To recap, there were four of us. My sister-in-law Kari, myself, my 18, (almost 19) year old daughter, and her boyfriend Bub were evacuees from Lower Lake, to our ranch up on Diener Drive, in the early evening of August 14, 2016.

Deciding to conserve the water as much as possible because it was usually either Bill or Charlie that pumped water from our well, we were all reluctant to be the first to shower. “You go…………. No, you go….” was the basis of conversation regarding showering. Nobody wanted to seem greedy, but we ALL really needed to bathe!

We had electricity there!

All of us plugged in our cell phones. We knew communication and information about the conditions were essential to our mood. If we knew what to expect, our stress levels calmed. For the time being, nobody took “feeling safe,” for granted. We knew conditions could change at the drop of a hat.

Charlie had called me about 30 minutes after we arrived. He asked if we had any questions about the cabin and told us that if things continued to die down, he would be up to check on us. I felt like crying every time I talked to him or saw him during the event, and just hearing his raspy voice made me nearly break. I knew now he’d been awake 36 hours and was suffering from smoke inhalation to boot. Still, he pushed on.

Not long after, to our surprise, Charlie came over the hill in his chief’s truck and brought with him my nephew Reed, and his father Bill. They had in the back of Charlie’s truck, an ice chest Bill had used to purge their freezer and in it was chicken and Tri-tips. We were set!

For the next few days. Charlie came when he got a break and with him, he always brought Bill and Reed. They had lost their vehicles in the fire, but neither of them would stay with us at the ranch, because of looters going out Morgan Valley Road where we lived. They stayed with their house, with no power or water, and continued to keep what they had left safe.

As for Charlie, he slept only a few hours a night, and was out mostly looking for hot spots and rekindles, going where he was instructed to help. The rest of us, hunkered down in a one bedroom cabin that was NOT set up for more then one person! We managed.

After a few days of sleeping with stressed out dogs on one recliner, one trundle twin bed, and the bed of a truck……… we all knew we’d have to either make the trek all around Lake County to get to Clearlake Park, or we’d go crazy from lack of sleep. We had a four bedroom house out there that was our friend’s vacation house, sitting vacant waiting for us, and we couldn’t get to it from road closures.

When I woke, (and I put that lightly because as exhausted as I was, I couldn’t sleep until after 2:00am each night), on the first morning, it was because a text was coming in. It was my dear friend, Karen, who at 6:00am was texting me to say they’d lost everything! And I mean………. it ALL! Their rentals, their ranch, their horse barns, their home, and even lost some animals too! They had only her husband’s truck he barely made it out with and she was out of town when it all happened so she wasn’t even home to gather up any belongings!

That day started with tears.

Eventually, the news of roads opening were golden! We packed up our ice chests again from the cabin’s refrigerator, took drinks and food, and once all our belongings were securely packed back into our rigs, we set out for our friend’s Mark and Renee Cooper’s house in Clearlake Park.

I HAD A BED OF MY OWN!

We didn’t know just how stressed and on survival mode we were until we got to a comfortable home. Fully equipped bathrooms, bedrooms, and kitchen, made us nearly cry! The dogs even slept hard for the first time in days!

dogs Even dogs

have stress! These are my two, who wouldn’t leave my side after what they’d seen and been through. I had them nearly up my butt and at night, they had this same blanket that I packed for them, spread across the opposite side of the bed, so they could sleep with me. I’d like to say I gave them comfort, but with Charlie still gone, I admit, they game me comfort too.

The news of an arrest of the serial arsonist came and we were both happy, but sickened at the same time. It came all too late. There are no words to describe how I hope justice finds this man!

I can never repay Mark and Renee for opening their home to us as they did when we needed a sanctuary, but I hope they know the extent of our gratitude. Eventually, Reed came out to stay with us and his mother made him rest. He was starting his senior year of high school and football practice and scrimmages were scheduled.

Life still went on!

The trouble was, he had all his gear burned up in the fire. All his shoes, athletic gear, it ALL went up with his burned truck. He needed to go get new stuff in Santa Rosa, an hour and 15 minute drive away, to be able to play in the up coming scrimmage. It seemed there was really no time to breathe!

But friends stepped up to help, even when I really didn’t consider us victims of the fire. We still had a home to go to……….. eventually. Even though I had NO IDEA what it would look like, my husband and his brother assured us, we had homes. This made me feel both grateful and guilty all at the same time. Our friends Joyce and Marv, brought us a huge casserole of spaghetti, bread, and cake. No need to shop for dinner and that was huge for Kari and me.

We were able to do laundry. What little we brought, we were able to wash. It made a huge difference. We filled our time with cleaning, walking the dogs outside on leashes, (because there wasn’t a fenced area), and calling our insurance companies to start claims.

Bill and Kari have lost a considerable amount. They lost three vehicles, a carport, all the belongings they were trying to save within those vehicles, and a shed full of her family’s heirloom furniture she had yet to restore. We lost most of our outdoor areas of our property. Besides all our landscaping, we lost our backyard decking, pool area, all our fencing posts and cross fencing areas, two blown windows in our guest house, (thank God my oldest had moved out of there earlier), and a ruined asphalt area near the garage where the dozer had to crawl over to protect our property. We both have smoke damage to a certain extent but it’s livable.

Did I say there was a fire right behind us in Clearlake Park on our first night at the Cooper’s?

Stress, stress, stress! I ‘d been in touch with my father, who called to check and see if we wanted to come to his house in Clearlake, but the reason we didn’t was, there were so many of us that we really needed the Cooper’s house! It was big enough for all of us to have our own beds and we were too insecure to separate at that point. WE HAD TO STAY TOGETHER.

And what a beautiful place we stayed at!

This was my morning view!

So I felt terrible that all I kept feeling was, I just wanna go home!

Then I got my wish. Charlie had told us we’d be able to repopulate that afternoon and I was elated. I knew it would be ugly and messy, but I was ready to tackle anything necessary to be in my house again.

Kari felt different.

I didn’t realize that through the whole thing, she was in a denial state. She was perfectly happy going to work and returning to the Cooper house in Clearlake Park, where everything was orderly and clean and safe. I didn’t take into account that she might be too scared to face what was waiting for her at home.

We all have our own PTSD. I had a breakdown on the Friday before we had to start school. I went into a meeting, still living at our friend’s vacation house, and we had a staff meeting. I walked around to the back of the school, to my library. I did this intentionally so I wouldn’t have to see my closest friends, Wendy and Terri, who work in the front office.

I wasn’t ready!

But Terri wasn’t having it. She saw me sneak around and met me in the hall of the back entrance. I fell apart at the sight of her. You save your weakest moments for those you are closest too. They are the ones who make you feel safe. It’s seeing them that make you realize you don’t have to remain the rock all the time.

During our stay at Mark and Renee’s house I also reached out to a fellow evacuee, who had ironically stayed in the very same house as us one year earlier, due to the Valley Fire. Our friends, the Gills, stayed there and I had some questions about the house and called Jamey to say, “HEY! I need some advice!” The difference there is , they lost everything. We knew we’d be able to go home eventually. But I gotta tell you, I truly feel more of an understanding of what they must have been going through………….. and still are going through now. It’s all so very violating!

So when we were able to go home, I rushed at the opportunity. Kari on the other hand said she needed one more night at the Cooper’s. I understood, but just had to go home! I helped all that day clean up, while she was at work. I cleaned bathrooms, did dishes, washed bedding, emptied trash, did our laundry, cleaned floors, and of course cleaned up dog poop from the lawn areas. I was packed and ready to leave when she arrived. She was very apologetic, although I totally understood and didn’t mind. All I knew was, I was going to be in my bed, in my house, with my things in a matter of hours.

And this is what I found……….

It looked like

we lived on the moon! I had a beautiful creek in my backyard that was canopied by a forest of Oak trees and Pines. It was stark, blackended, and looked like something out of a Tim Burton nightmare. My guest house, (shown here) had blown windows that had it gotten any hotter, would have ignited inside the building. That was my oldest daughter’s bedroom in there for her entire high school years, and the other room was my storage room with all our camping, skiing, and holiday stuff. We were very lucky! Still, it made me sick!

The dozer made a break but still the lawn and ground cover burned right up to the building. Just not the super high flames that might have been there, had not the dozer come through. All our irrigation is shot, broken, or melted. Oh well.

The final post about my personal experience with the Clayton Fire will be either tomorrow or Monday, September 12th. I will tell you about my drive the next day into the town, where I photographed the original Fire Department of Lower Lake, my grandmother’s house when I was a little girl, and countless other friend’s homes in the town of mine and my husband’s childhood.

The town of Lower Lake is resilient. We have proven that, just as those who lost it all in the Valley Fire are resilient. This entire community has been damaged, with over 40% of our landmass in Lake County having burned in the last year. But we will not lie down and parish. We will get back up, brush ourselves off and be stronger for it!

“What doesn’t kill us, will make us stronger!” ……….. God Bless Us.

Clayton Fire / Part 2

clayton-fire “I’d rather fight

100 structure fires than a wildfire. With a structure fire you know where your flames are, but in the woods it can move anywhere; it can come right up behind you.” – Tom Watson

(Above pic from Google Images of Clayton Fire LL)

On August 14th, 2016, we thought in the early morning hours that the worst was behind us with the Clayton Fire. Over night it had laid down some and crews had begun to make great progress in the hopes of containment on some flanks. This is what I heard. But it didn’t last.

I was confident enough in the fact that the fire had passed us on the day before, that when my youngest daughter asked me if it was safe enough to unpack her car and bring her items back into the house, I said to go ahead.

We unpacked our cars of the bathroom items and clothing, and I brought in my computer, laptop, and camera, to keep them from getting too hot out in the car. I left everything else out there, just in case. One more day, I’d told myself, would be sufficient to secure our reassurance that fire would NOT reach our home.

Exhausted from not sleeping but 3 hours the night before, I told Emma that I was going to lie down for a nap. She took a walk to her Uncle Bill and Aunt Kari’s house down our driveway, just to check on them and visit awhile. I was hot and sweaty in the house with no electricity to run the air, and drank a cold water from the ice chest, where we’d stored all our items salvaged from the refrigerator. Too jittery to sleep, I laid back in my chaise in front of the non-operating television and closed my eyes.

Strange visions come when you are rummy from no sleep, and when my cell phone started ringing, I imagined reaching to turn off my alarm. It kept going until I realized it was my phone and I was dozing.

As I answered somewhat dazed, my daughter was trying to stay calm on the other end.

“Mom! What are you doing?” she barked. Of course I told her I was trying to nap when she continued, “The fire is back and is right behind our garage! We are on our way back! Uncle Bill spotted it from his hill!”

I bolted up and caused the dogs to go ape-shit, barking. Sure enough, the fire had rekindled somewhere near, winds had picked up, and a fire storm had emerged behind our property. It sent flying embers throughout our neighborhood. It was like a dust devil had moved along the ridge top and flung red hot coals as it went.

THIS WAS IT!

I called my husband, even though I knew he was up to his eyeballs busy, I thought he should know his own family was in trouble and fixing to evacuate. FOR SURE THIS TIME! My exact words on the phone were, “It’s real this time! It’s going down and we are out of here!” All he could say was he’d be here as soon as he could………… we just didn’t know when that could be. I had to act fast.

The kids and I were packing four cars and my brother-in-law Bill, my nephew Reed (who’d already been up a day and a half fighting the fire), and an engine from Cal Fire, all arrived within minutes of each other. It made me feel better but not secure. I continued to walk around frantically, looking to do more that would save my home.

I asked Bub, (daughter’s boyfriend), to run to the hillside near the garage and put out the sprinkler again. I ran to the back of the guest house and drug a hose with a sprinkler to turn on there. The front yard had water going and I was using a hose to spray my gutters all along the main house. The engine crew was just getting out and evaluating the situation when I decided I’d done all I could.

WE HAD TO LEAVE.

(Picture I took from my yard)

After taking some pictures of what was happening around my property, (I didn’t know if I was going to see it again), I told my nephew we were going to leave and thanked him for staying with the Cal Fire crew as long as he did. I told him to go down to his house and help his mom, because I could see the fire was making a horseshoe around us and headed to his place. His dad, Bill, was already headed that way.

NOW……. we had a predicament! There were four vehicles and only three of us. It was decided that ultimately, I was driving my car, Bub would drive Emma’s, she was going to drive out my husband’s one ton-HOSS, and that left Bub’s car without a driver! Quickly, I told him to drive his car to the bottom of our driveway and park it at the end, near Bill and Kari’s place. It was right at Morgan Valley Road. Our driveway is about 200 yards up a hill from there to our house. He drove it down, sprinted back up, and helped me load our dogs into Emma’s car that he would be driving. Then we set out.

Before I got into the car, I stood on our lawn, looked back behind me at our house and the flames licking the property, and nearly threw up right there. I felt a rolling in my stomach that can only be described as a sickening eel, greasy inside of me. I’d never felt like that before and hope to never again.

Jumping into our vehicles, we convoyed out. Bub in the lead, Emma in the middle, and me taking up the rear. We all stopped at the bottom of the driveway to discuss options with Bill and Kari and Reed. But there was a new problem. Their house was about to burn up!

Kari had taken great pains to pack up three of their vehicles with all their prized possessions. She had their little dog, Hurley with her on a leash outside of her Suburban, and Bill’s and Reed’s trucks were at the bottom of their hill, waiting for drivers. Totally out of nowhere, a relentless fire blazed behind their house and Reed joined the Cal Fire crew that was appointed to their structure, Bill was in a T-shirt, shorts, and tennis shoes, helping where ever he could. It became very apparent that we’d all have to leave and soon.

My husband was in and out quickly, just giving orders to engine crews and leaving again. While he was occupied for a moment, I talked with a member of Cal Fire that was waiting on Morgan Valley Road for his orders and he told Kari and I that Lower Lake was on fire. Main Street was gone and we couldn’t leave out that way.

We waited too long!

Meanwhile, the fire had made a huge horseshoe around our area that blocked us from leaving out towards town, and we could only drive about a quarter of a mile in the other direction on Morgan Valley Road.

We were trapped.

As Charlie was leaving he rolled his window down on his rig. I ran to it and saw tears in his eyes. He was visibly shaken and confirmed that much had burned and was still burning. He was working his ass off, trying to put engines at every structure he could and only told me what little information was necessary.

“Go out Morgan Valley Road to the little ranch before the bridge! Pull over there and see if they have their gates open and wait there. If not, stay parked on the side of the road there. You guys will be safe if you stay there. I will come for you when I can. Just stay there!”

And he left.

Our dogs were going nuts. The fire was getting closer and we had to leave. I pulled Kari aside and told her to put Hurley in the truck and follow us out. Bill and Reed would not leave. We couldn’t wait anymore.

Doing what my husband told me to do was all I could focus on. It was my job now to lead my family. I had to do it without him and I was terrified, but like in any other crisis of my life, I became a rock during the actual event. Falling apart was for later.

I instructed Bub to go where Charlie told us and said we’d all pull over on Morgan Valley Road there. He was in the lead, then Emma, then me, and Kari in the rear. It wasn’t far. Maybe a quarter mile. We all pulled over and before my engine was off, Bubba was leaving Emma’s car, windows down with my dogs in the back and running back to our driveway.

“WHERE ARE YOU GOING?” I yelled, trying to keep my dogs from jumping out.

“TO GET MY CAR!” he hollered back.

He threw the keys to Emma so I could roll up the windows of her car and keep my dogs from jumping out. She then walked back to her dad’s truck and I stood there, trying to calm our dogs while hoping we could find the property owners of that ranch and have them let us in their gates off the road.

The little ranch had a huge pasture in front that is at least the size of a football field. It is cut very short, and the helicopters were using it to change their baskets. If there was a safe place to be, this was it.

Moments later, Bub came barreling up the road in his car. He parked in front of Emma’s car and quickly came back to where I was standing. His face was red, he was coughing terribly, spitting, and later Charlie would tell me that Bub came inches from being burned! He’d gotten smoke inhalation from breathing hard and inhaling the smoke when he rescued his car, which nearly caught fire. Charlie told me when he saw him as he was coming back by, that Bub was almost IN the fire, trying to get into his car.

“Patti, I’m not sure Bill and Reed are ok!” Bub said in private. “The cars are on fire, and I looked up on the hill and I couldn’t see them anymore. The carport and cars and the field are all on fire. I think something happened to Bill and Reed.”

My sick eel came back and I pulled Bubba’s shirt and got his face close to mine, looking him right in the eyes.

“You don’t know that!” I said. “Now, those boys are experienced and at the very least, they’d jump into the engine and get out. Don’t you say a word out loud about it again, because I don’t think Kari can bare it!”

He nodded and agreed to let it go for now. We had to decide what to do. And then, just like that, the owner came along on an ATV and hollered at us to all drive in and he was unlocking the gate! It took Bub two trips to move Emma’s car with the dogs and then his own, but we managed to get all 5 cars and all 4 of us into their property.

As it is in small towns, the owner works at Lower Lake High School and knew both Kari and me. I admit, I didn’t remember her since we work at different sites, but Barbara and Mike were so kind and I can never repay them for saving us.

The only thing we could do for them was work like hell to save their property! The fire came that way and sure enough, the embers started falling in the tree line surrounding their property. Emma had our dogs on the leashes and Kari had her dog. Bubba and I ran to start stomping out the embers. I was in tennis shoes and he was in shorts and Vans. We were stomping, yelling for Mike, running from hot spot to hot spot. Emma gave our dogs to Kari to hold and she ran to help. Once she was there and Mike handed out shovels to her and Bub, I ran to the other side of the property where the barn was now in danger.

emma-clayton-fire This picture

was taken by Tenaya Fleckenstien, who put it on social media, and it’s of my daughter Emma, the property owner Mike, and the other person’s side is Bub.

I tried to use the hose on the side of the barn where the fire was creeping around from the creek, but there was no pressure. Surely there must be a huge kink in the hose somewhere, I thought………. but no. That wasn’t the problem.

Lower Lake was running out of water!

So there we stood. And some guy, who I think was Mike and Barbara’s neighbor, started shoveling dirt on the fire from behind the barn. Meanwhile, a goat escaped and ran right towards Emma. She scooped it up and saved it. After putting it in the pen again, our own dog, Bailey escaped from her collar and ran to her as well. She again had to save her from the flames and I was screaming to her over the noise of the fire to stop Bailey!! It was a fiasco for sure!

The fire seemed to move on and only little embers remained. We kept taking turns, Kari and I, on holding all the leashes and putting out fires. Luckily, I had the sense to have the kids put our ice chests in the back of Hoss before we left and we had plenty of waters and ice to sustain us.

Hours passed. It grew late, and all I wanted to do was get to our ranch up on Diener Drive. We’d be safe there and the dogs could run, and we could rest. If only we could get through town!

Finally, Charlie was driving passed on Morgan Valley Road and I spotted him from across the field. He was talking with some guys near the bridge and a man on a tractor in the field by it. I have one helluva whistle! I got his attention and he turned around and came through the gate.

I asked if he could give us an escort to the intersection so we could leave and get the hell out of there. He said he’d be back for us when he could do that. It was a few more hours but he finally came back and when he did, we left Bub’s car with Barbara and Mike, followed Charlie and drove our convoy through the smoke and haze of a torn up town, to find it was a terrible loss. Not nearly as bad as the rumors we were first hearing from the firemen that didn’t know better though. Nonetheless, it was all surreal.

At the intersection of Hwy’s 53 and 29, we had Highway Patrol take it from there and he followed us up the hill towards Diener Drive, leaving us when we turned off the highway. Charlie went back to continue the fight, and from his peers, and our community folks, we later were told how hard he tried and how much he fought to save Lower Lake. It is the town he was born and raised in.

As for Bill and Reed, I am forever grateful they are both safe and sound. My nephew was my great hero that day! He not only was greatly responsible for saving my house, but he fought and succeeded in saving his as well. Unfortunately, with this crazy ass fire, when they turned their back to save the house, the carport, shed, and three cars, (one a newly restored 1979 Trans Am) burned up with all the things they packed to try and save! But still, they have a home.

Tomorrow I will blog on what we later found out about that day, and how we lived at the ranch for awhile, one bedroom and four people, three dogs, and exhaustion. We lived in a haze for awhile and I didn’t even remember some of the conversations I’d had with people on my phone and texts.

All I can say for now is we are so very blessed. I love my family, I love my town, and together, we are Lower Lake Strong.

The Clayton Fire / Part 1

When I hear the rumble

of an air tanker or the whop- whop-whop of a helicopter outside my house now, my stomach rolls and I feel my heart in my throat. Don’t get me wrong, I am eternally grateful for all the air attack we had during the Clayton Fire, but all it reminds me of is how very vulnerable we are in California to FIRE!

Something to think about that comes to mind when I ask myself, what the Hell is going on with all the fires! Then I remember when my dad was a volunteer firefighter when I was a kid, and I remember the early years of my husband as a young fireman all that time ago, and I know what the difference is. It’s not California’s landscape that has changed or even the crazy ass population of people here. It’s merely the fact that we don’t do control burns anymore.

I guess it’s some environmentalist reason, but hey folks let’s get real. If something use to catch fire, it would eventually burn into the burn area that had been control burned off by the fire departments to create a break. NOW…… with no break anywhere to be found, if something catches fire……… IT BURNS FOREVER!!! On and on it goes, taking out everyone’s homes, ranches, animals, and lives along with it!

Let me start over.

I was with my friends Dina and Theresa, at Maynard’s in Lower Lake on August 13, 2016. We hadn’t hooked up all summer and it seemed it was already gone. Since we all had busy lives we took that Saturday to meet at 4:00pm and share some beers, laughs, and company before we all dove into the new school year.

I work for the school district, Dina’s youngest is now a senior at Lower Lake High School, and Theresa’s grandson, (hard to believe) is starting Kindergarten at Lower Lake Elementary. Me, my kids are grown and in college but you never stop worrying. Luckily, my oldest lives close by and works and goes to community college, while my youngest has chosen, (thank God) to live at home a while and work, and attend community college. So this is what we were discussing when it happened.

Just before we went outside to have our second beers, we all saw out the front window, my husband Charlie, who was on duty, fly by in his battalion rig going to a call. I simply said I thought he must be headed to an auto accident or something. We all said we hoped it was minor and went outside to the back patio.

A few minutes later, Nicki, the bartender, came out and said that there was a big fire somewhere. We all thought, shit, not again! As we discussed the problems of late, with all the obvious sets going on in our area, Dina’s son Johnny came outside to see us. He let us know it was just outside Lower Lake, and on Clayton Creek Road.

WELL SHIT!

If you are not familiar with our area, Clayton Creek Road is just over the hill from downtown Lower Lake and if it was out much farther, just over the hill from my house! I was nervous!

Immediately, I texted my husband and asked if I should be worried. I waited, I waited, then finally I got a message back that simply said, “GO HOME!”

My heart was in my throat. I left a half full beer on the outside table and told my comrades to help themselves. I informed them of what I was told, threw some money at the bartender, and left to go home just as I was instructed.

Once there, I found my youngest and her boyfriend at our house. I told her to start packing stuff to evacuate, just in case. Now what you need to know is, my daughter never takes me very seriously. She rolled her eyes at me and, (as 18 year olds do), told me to relax and said it would be, “just fine!”

I got my mom attitude then and told her, “DAD IS THE ONE WHO TOLD ME.” Well now, that made her change her tune. I suppose in the eyes of a teenager, dads usually are the ones to listen to and moms are just nags. But then her boyfriend came to my rescue and told her it looked pretty serious……….. so she packed.

We gathered what we thought was important. I basically ripped out our PC computer tower from our home office, grabbed the box of backup thumb drives and CD’s and looked for any other business stuff we’d require for Diener Ranch. Got my laptop, camera, then I went to our safe for other items I wasn’t sure would survive if left behind. I took pictures off walls, photo albums, and jewelry. Since my husband was on the fire, I packed clothes for him and myself, all the while, pushing sickening feelings down deep into my core, trying to keep control of myself.

We three were walking around in circles throughout the house and trying to stay as calm as possible, and while doing so, the scanner was blaring out loudly so we could monitor what was happening. I was very glad Emma and Bubba were here with me. I wouldn’t have done well alone. They helped me pack, water down the yard, calmed the dogs, and took turns watching for spot fires. We were all exhausted.

And then the power went out.

My windows rattled and my dogs barked. Air tankers and helicopters were right on top of us. I tried not to cry as I saw outside my windows the column of smoke was building ever so close to my house. I prayed it would sweep around us.

Grateful and praying for a miracle, I thanked the air attack, out loud, for being here with us. I even waved up to them from my front yard. With so many fires that were burning in California, having these resources was a blessing. I just hoped we had enough. I prayed for containment quickly.

To my utter surprise and complete relief, the fire DID burn around us and out towards Lakeridge Road. I hoped it would get picked up before it got to anyone’s homes and began to relax a little. I really thought it was going to be alright.

It wasn’t.

That first night of Saturday August 13th, 2016, four families lost their homes. The firefighters fought like Hell to get a handle on it and keep it from spreading further, but it was a terrible loss, nonetheless.

night-fire Afraid to sleep,

I set the alarm on my cell phone for 1 hour before I laid down around midnight, just so I would wake to check and see if we were still safe to stay. I had no TV, no phone, and few battery operated lights so I laid in my bed, both dogs with me for comfort, and looked out my window every few minutes. The crappy photo above is the night sky outside my window around 10:00pm that night and even though my husband said we personally were in the clear, I didn’t dare count on it. It was all too close.

By 3:00am, I finally let myself really fall asleep. There was no more glowing red in the night and I barely smelled smoke. Maybe it would all be over soon, I thought. And by 6:00am, my husband called me to say he thought his crew made great strides in containing their flank of the fire. He wasn’t sure what the front was doing but his area was looking good. I was relieved.

The sun rose on August 14th, and we decided to go get ice for our ice chests and start putting all the refrigerator items in them to save what we could. I was sure it would be quite awhile before power was restored.

On my way home, I found my worn out husband on the side of the road, parked outside the Lower Lake Feed Store. I hugged him and we talked a minute. Then he told me our friend David, who owns the feed store, had been one of the folks who lost their home the night before. My heart broke! When Charlie left to go back and get his orders for the day, I walked through the gate to the yard of the feed store and found David. I cried and hugged both him and his wife. They are such kind people. What a terrible tragedy! But they said as long as they got all their animals out, which they did, they said they would be fine. They were strong in faith that everything would work out. I left them feeling drained and overwhelmingly concerned.

The day seemed to be calm in the beginning and I thought it would all be over soon, with the fire turned over to the Cal Fire Crews and mostly out in BLM land. I was sure Charlie would come home to rest, and it would be fully contained by nightfall.

I was wrong.

What I will write about tomorrow is what happened later that day. Sunday, August 14th, would prove to be the Clayton Fire rearing it’s ugly head again when nobody expected it to. The behavior of the fire was as unpredictable as a pissed off dragon, and Lower Lake was it’s victim.

All photos from this post were taken by me, Patti Diener.

Sometimes you have to UNPLUG!

Too much technology

can distract a person from the things in life that really matter. My first born and I just returned from a spectacular trip to the Mendocino Coast. It was all about relaxing, reconnecting, and indulgence. We accomplished it all!

The birth of this book I’m writing, Out Of The Ashes, actually started from a writing trip I took last November to Fort Bragg, California. I was intending to write a short story for a writing competition and while getting inspired without distractions from my daily life, the character Gabriel Hart, surfaced. The story was to be called, Solitary Hart.

But then………an epiphany!

I started writing about the Valley Fire and my short story for the writing competition ended up being about WWII, and my grandfather. To answer the question you are all wondering, no. I didn’t win the competition. My novel ended up pulling all my energy and attention so maybe the short story piece wasn’t what it could have been.

Moving forward to this summer’s trip with my daughter, Fallon, we were going to let our creative juices flow in the fabulous coastal house. Seahorse Cottage in Albion is a wonderful place with great energy! Fallon is an artist and we were hoping she’d get inspired to sketch something to paint, while I was going to continue to write my novel.

155 167 WE GOT DISTRACTED!

From the moment we left, all we could talk about was sight seeing, wine tasting, great restaurants, the beach, botanical gardens, and shopping! We did it all! Of course we relaxed too, but in the little hours of evening spent in our sanctuary house, we both realized that I’d forgotten my laptop power cord, and Fallon forgot her art supply bag, because her fur-baby dog didn’t want her to leave and she was sneaking out quickly!

More time to talk!

Walking through the gardens in Fort Bragg, we had ample time to reflect on life. Creativity comes from inspiration. Surrounding oneself with the beauty of nature is not only inspiring, but rebuilds your spirit. It can breathe new life into you when you are feeling stumped, stagnant, or are just in a plain old rut! It was exactly what we both needed.

Being exactly 50 degrees cooler than home helped too! Ha!

I highly recommend everyone take time to UNPLUG from your daily life! Sharing time with my sweet girl, (who is now 22 years old……..where did the time go?), and in an environment that we could both be at ease, made all the difference in my life upon returning to the daily grind.

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Eating well is never a problem for me on vacation! Fallon and I both love to cook too, so one night we made a beautiful Ahi Tuna salad with asparagus, (pictured above). I love Bloodymarys but can’t make a good one to save my soul! Fortunately, a little place in Mendocino makes one of the best! Fully loaded, it’s spicy, comes with celery, green olives, bacon, and a full size prawn! It’s a meal in itself,(yes, it’s me, above right).

It’s a very different relationship you end up with once your children are grown. If you are lucky, they become your friends. Oh, make no mistake, you are still their parent, and I offer my advice more then they probably would like, (Sorry Fallon & Emma), but it’s also heartwarming to be in the company of these people that you’ve created, and brought into the world…………. and you actually LIKE THEM! Ha!

The blessing is that they like me too.

I’ve fallen behind in my self-made deadline, for Out Of The Ashes, to be ready to submit to an agent. But I truly believe taking time to live and enjoy my life, with the people I so love, will only make my writing better, and after all, isn’t it more important to have a great product in the end, then rush a job for the sake of getting it done?

Anything worth doing, is worth doing well………. who said that?

Today, I read a great blog post from my sweet friend Jamey Gill. Go to her site at jagcagdesign.com to read her experiences with the Valley Fire. It is also the site for her amazing art that she creates and sells. Give it a look! She’s one of many Lake County gems! We really have so many talented people in our community.

This weekend should prove to be beautiful in Lake County, with the temps only in the high 80’s. So get out there and enjoy nature! I started my day off today walking my two dogs. Find your way of unplugging, and reconnect with your friends and family! Or do one of my favorite things ever!…………. find a shady place outdoors, and grab something cool to drink, and read a book,( preferably NOT from a kindle, or other techno-device! A REAL BOOK). You will be happy you did.

136 Enjoy everyone! Happy Friday!

Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire!

Face That face you get

when you are worried about, “just how close is that fire behind my house?” The fire season of 2015 is still very fresh in my mind and my reactive response now is, should I or shouldn’t I start packing things up?

I was just making a quick dinner for myself of a small baked potato and some broccoli, (the family is out), and I heard sirens in the distance. Now, the problem is, I don’t usually even give that a second thought, because sadly enough, it’s usually police or sheriff sirens. Living in Lake County has jaded me a bit I’m afraid. But when an air tanker flew over my house close enough to rattle my windows and freak my dogs out, I took notice!

Being the wife of a battalion chief has it’s perks. We have multiple sources of scanning devices in our house to monitor the airwaves and get reports on conditions. I immediately turned up the scanner and found my husband’s pager, turning it up also, as it scans different channels.

Walking outside, the smoke plume was pretty high but not black, just a light brown, indicating that it wasn’t a structure. It was also not moving much. I looked at the tree line and noted there wasn’t any wind to speak of. Now my nerves are starting to settle a bit. ………… but only a bit.

Acid reflux is sure to find me, as I ate my dinner standing at the kitchen window, watching the smoke and talking to my dad on the phone. He called me right when I was trying to listen to how many acres it was and what all resources they were sending. I’m afraid I was abrupt in telling him I’d have to call him back.

I called my daughter’s friend Amanda, who lives down the street from us out Morgan Valley Road, in Lower Lake. The fire seemed past her and she also has a scanner, because her boyfriend is a firefighter. I was hoping maybe she heard what I missed on the report of conditions. Luckily, she knew the road and it was out Lakeridge Road, some two miles past her and about 2 1/2 from me. That is not very far! We agreed to keep each other posted if we heard of any changes.

When I hung up, I decided to call my husband, even though I knew he was out on the road, driving back to me with our youngest and her boyfriend. He is allowed as an emergency personnel to use his cell phone, and after all, this was official fire business.

Charlie informed me that it was in fact, very close. He said that it wasn’t a very good place to be burning either, but if there wasn’t any wind they would probably pick it up pretty quick. He promised to call me in a few hours when they stopped to eat and he’d check in on me. Being the brave girl I am, I assured him it looked like they were getting a handle on it………even though I wasn’t sure.

Dinner eaten and I cannot even remember if it tasted good, I put my plate into the sink and went outside again to look at the smoke more closely. To my surprise, the smoke was much less and the air tanker was still flying, but farther away. This is when I took the picture of my worried face. HA!(pic from Google images)

More relief came when I walked into the house to hear them say, “fire contained at a half acre.” DO YOU KNOW HOW GOOD THAT MADE ME FEEL?!!

So now, I’ve called my father back to inform him all is right with the world, and I was also hearing them release people from the fire. That in itself is a great indicator of success! WHEW! What a relief!

I thought the fear was past me, as I didn’t really experience near the emotional trauma as so many folks did last season, from losing their home. But being on the alert for months and keeping our belongings packed, ready to evacuate, it took it’s toll. Worried about my husband going out to fight the fires, worried about all the friends we have in emergency services, and plain old worrying about safety in general, not sleeping………. it was rough! Tonight, it flooded back into me. I’m glad it was short lived.

I have so much gratitude for living in this small community, where I have people, like Amanda, who I can call with my worried questions. I’m grateful to be here knowing so many emergency personnel, who would do anything for the people who are living here. I am thankful I’m married to a great guy who has taught me ways of keeping myself, our family, and our property safe. Lastly, I am happy to know so many kind people who live near me that I know, in a heart beat, would help me if I ever needed it, because they know, I’d do the same for them.

Tonight, brought back some scary memories, but it’s all good. My dogs and I are relaxing with the air on, and in a few short hours, my husband will be returning home with the kids, (grown as they are). Life is good.

These feelings of bonding with community are what propels me forward in writing my book, Out Of The Ashes. The characters and the story are portraying the small-town-America, that we all desire. Our county may have it’s problems, but I can honestly say, it has far more blessings then my eyes were willing to see, before the fires happened. Now, I see what was there all along.

Good night my friends.

Life Goes On

Let me tell you,

I am far from the Pollyanna, everything will be A-OK, optimist, but for all of my life, I’ve been looking for that silver lining. In my adult life, I’ve always practiced gratitude, and looking back, I know perseverance has been my motto. But the one thing I know, (and bare with me, it’s cliché), is that LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED.

The research I’ve done for my book, and the people I’ve talked to, have given me so much hope for the future. Through everything people have been through, through all the devastation and loss, there has been one common denominator and that is, LOVE.

Call it what you want, compassion, empathy, faith, help, giving back,……. it’s all love. Without love, you cannot possess any of the previous feelings or actions. When I bore witness to the human aspect of the aftermath of our community’s ordeal, I felt the love in every stranger. It’s hard to put into words!

Today, it’s still there. After a while, you have to look harder for it. Some folks are having more than a hard time moving forward. Let’s be honest, it’s down right paralyzing for some. But if you dig deeper, (like I have), the love it out there.

A group called, “Camp Noah,” I hear, is coming to Lake County for the children. It’s an organization that helps kids deal after a disaster. They are based out of Minnesota, but have been to places such as the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, because children feel stress too. With all our adult problems of having to relocate, find a way to make our family’s lives as normal as possible, kids are in the background, stressing in their own way. Go to lssmn.org/camp_noah for more information. I believe it’s a great idea.

I’ve talked to so many folks, and recently, I’ve found that some people almost feel abandoned. Like, “the world is moving on without them.” Once things are no longer in the forefront of the media, and others that have not experienced the first hand trauma, have gone on with normal life, the ones that went through terrible loss are feeling forsaken. How can everyone just move on?

Well, rest assured, that some that appear to have moved forward are just now feeling the stress. Everyone deals with these things at their own pace, and I believe, just like any kind of mourning, we need to allow folks to come around to it in their own time. And if you are one of the people out there feeling forsaken, try looking for support through friends and neighbors. They are out there believe me!

My friend April, put it more eloquently than I think she even knew. We were at lunch and she told me about running into friends that were her neighbors up on Cobb Mountain. She’s since moved her and her daughter into a home in Hidden Valley because they had lost their family home, something that was passed on from generations. She recollected how it struck her, seeing these people, after all these months that they would never be her neighbors again! How she’d always assumed they’d be right next door and they’d share a friendship of family memories forever! But that was robbed of her the day the Valley Fire relocated her! They weren’t given a choice! These kinds of things are still very fresh and raw.

I was told of a website from a local Middletown woman. She runs a coffee house on Main Street in Middletown, and has a fun and upbeat blog called, Coffee Keeps Me Grounded. Please, look it up and read of Stephanie Diehl’s local life. Her recent blog will let you know, that even those who seem perfectly great on the surface, can be working like a mad dog underneath. She and her family were affected by this fire as well. It’s a good read.

We are all needing love. Not just right now, but try to let these unthinkable circumstances remind us of the fact that, at any given time, someone we know, or don’t know but come in contact with, can be fighting an uphill battle. I know that just lending a hand, giving a smile, or a kind word, can mean all the difference to someone in need. The way we behave in tragic times can show character of who we really are. But even months, or years later, let it be a reminder to us to always show love.

I am leaving you with one last piece of recommendation of a girl who has put together a picture book. Now, I warn you, the photos are of the fire! But as my beautiful friend April told me, she purchased it not for herself, but for her future grandkids, because it occurred to her, that she no longer had anything to hand down from the family. This book was proof to her future grandchildren, of hers and their mother’s stoic, perseverance, that they did in fact, lose everything, but love moved them forward to build a great life anyway! You can find it by Googling the photographer, Tenaya Fleckenstein. She did a great job!

In closing, listen to Martina McBride’s song, Anyway!

It will lift you up! Good night, and God Bless!

Talking with Lake County Fire’s Chief, Willie Sapeta

021 024

It was my pleasure

today to sit down in the office of Willie Sapeta, Chief of Lake County Fire Protection District, in Clearlake California. Although always busy with an endless list of responsibilities, he cordially accepted my request at an interview.

Upon sitting down, we discussed family, which if you know Willie, is his heart and soul next to public service. Of his wife, Rachelle, (pictured above), he simply said, “She’s just amazing.” His four children are his pride and joy, and with his eldest, Shelby,(also above), in high school sports, Willie gushed about her success thus far and how he couldn’t be more proud.

I explained the reason I was there to talk was not only to get his point of view of the Valley Fire, but also to ask him about any community involvement he may have witnessed during, and after the horrific inferno. What kind of contributions did he personally see come from citizens in our county.

Before I go any further, I’d like to tell you all, that I’m paraphrasing what Willie told me, as I didn’t bring a recorder. I am also not a professional journalist, however I DO hate it when they get things wrong! Ha! So Willie, if you read this and find I misspoke for you, please leave a comment in this blog, and within 24 hours it will be posted to correct me.

To begin with, 2015’s fire season really set off with a bang! The date of July 26th, being the most obvious point of reference because of the Dam Fire. Following that were several others, but the media started taking notice with the Rocky Fire, and then the Jerusalem Fire.

The mother of all fires was of course, The Valley Fire. It ate up 35% of Lake County’s landmass, and to date, Willie said it is California’s #1 worst fire for losing as many structures as it did, in as short a period of time as it did. This beating out even the Oakland Hills Fire, in that aspect.

To tell Willie’s story from the beginning, September 12, 2015, he was setting out to go to his son Logan’s, football game. He had stopped by the station for ice for their trip and ultimately, never left for the game. His wife retrieved their son, who was riding with Willie, from the fire station, and Willie was gone for days.

The fire started near High Valley off of Bottlerock Road. Willie heard over the radio from Middletown’s Division Chief, Linda Green, that a helitack crew was over run twice and then had to deploy their fire shelters due to entrapment. She initially called for 20 engines, 20 crews, 20 dozers, and would augment that with 40 additional engines in the next 10.

Helitack Crew

Everyone later learned that the helitack crew had all survived, but were sent to a burn center where they all stayed for days, receiving treatment for the burns they sustained. Niko Matteoli, Richard Reiff, and Logan Pridemore, all made a full recovery. Their Captain Pat Ward, has recovered well, although he sustained far worse injuries, losing some fingers, due to the fact he was last to take shelter, risking himself to be certain his crew were all in theirs first.

So off Willie went, getting together a strike team and his department, like others,was stripped of resources, sending everything they could spare, including medic units. Eventually, becoming a Division Group Supervisor, Willie was sent to Hoberg’s Resort area.

Of the fire, Willie said, “The ominous, cyclonic smoke cloud was nothing short of amazing. It was truly Armageddon!”

The fire wasn’t the worst of the matter, it was more about saving lives. They worked with entities such as Highway Patrol, State Parks, and Fish and Game, initially, to evacuate the Cobb area in which he was working. All along, trying to get a handle on attacking the fire with the resources they had available.

Radio traffic was horrendous! There was so much going on at once, and the fire was taking on an unpredictable life of it’s own, that everyone was talking over the other, jamming the frequencies. Some confusion about what was happening with your crew could happen at times, because there was so much communication loss, and they couldn’t hear one another. Also, the cell towers were down, there was no PG&E, phone lines were down, so it was a mess.

Some of the engines sent got trapped with evacuees for a short period of time. With winds at 55-60 mph, and the fire storm so immense, there was spontaneous ignition of some homes! Truly a scene from right out of a movie.

From Hoberg’s to Evergreen, Willie worked in the first few hours, then going back towards the Cobb Station, it was just crazy! Things just were blowing up so fast, and the sound of exploding propane tanks made it sound like a warzone!

The evacuations went better than you would think, under such grisly circumstance. However, when he drove the Highway 29 from Middletown to Lower Lake corridor, there were burned out cars everywhere, just left on the highway. “I wondered, where were the people that were driving these cars?” Willie asked. Some vehicles were abandoned right in the middle of the highway. One could only imagine what those people went through, and probably are still going through today with PTSD.

“As a fireman,” Willie said, “I can tell you, that going through my mind, as I saw all those homes lost, I felt that every single home was the loss of someone’s life! Just like a doctor or medic would feel in losing a patient, as firemen, we feel the same thing if we lose a home. It contains someone’s life. In that, I can say, I still carry some amount of PTSD, with me today.”

As we both were tearing up, we talked of the next day. He said, really, night fall came quickly because time was flying by and there was so much to do. By 5:00am the next day, it was 58 degrees and a light rain started, but it was all still burning. It did slow things down a bit though, allowing for assessments of the fire conditions. However, this fire was still unpredictable. What they do, he told me, is they have air attack assessments and reports on conditions, Cal Fire has their meteorologist assess the weather and then they make predictions based on humidity, fuel modeling, and years of drought.

But their plans for how to fight the fire went past, during the next day! The fire was already beyond the point where they had predicted it would be! It was amazingly unpredictable, and some temperatures were from 2500 to 4000 degrees. Where most fires leave foundations and chimneys in tact, in some places, this fire, if you touched the concrete foundations, it crumbled and turned to dust!

The fire went on and on, with Willie assigned up until October 6th before he was released. During this time he witnessed some disgusting people that would even put themselves in harms way, just to loot evacuee’s homes. He stopped what he saw, the best he could, but there were other amazing people he encountered.

Because of the erratic behavior of the fire, some homes survived right next to some that burned, and during the fire, one home was burning, and the firemen working that area, opened a coop that held chickens and turkeys. These birds ran from their cage to the neighbor’s house that survived, and still reside there today!

Others that were going door to door, like the Sherriff’s Department, Police, CHP, and Fish & Wildlife, including fire personnel, rescued animals whenever possible. Dogs, cats, one guy had a mule and sheep in the bed of his truck! And the veterinary offices! They were simply amazing, helping these animals however they could.

In that retrospect, truck loads of UC Davis pharmaceuticals, hay, grain, alfalfa, and all kinds of pet food were flooding our community, to help feed and care for these animals in need.

PG&E worked at record speed, as did AT&T, to restore poles starting the next day! The mobile command posts were helpful! POD’s, (point of distributions) were put up all over, as well as a local assistant center at Cal Pine. These were along side the many other areas that helped house people!

One place that stood out in Willie’s mind was the Lion’s Club Little Red School House. They set up with items to donate to evacuees for everything they could possibly need to camp outside. Tents, sleeping bags, lanterns, and tools. There were clothing items, food, toiletries, and more!

This was just the beginning! People who were probably on their last $5.00 came to donate to the firefighters. Waters, food, homemade cookies, it was very heartfelt and amazing. Others were local venders such as Walmart, who when the evacuees camped in their parking lot, gave them waters and food items. The local McDonalds, both Clearlake and Lakeport donated food items as well to both evacuees, and firefighters.

And it goes on! One entire football team from a Sonoma County high school came to sift through people’s rubble of their lost homes, to help look for anything that might have survived. In Fort Bragg, the city housed many people and fed them for free. And Cactus Grill in Clearlake, she made 100 burritos and brought them to Lake County Fire. Cecil’s brought over 20 pizzas. An anonymous woman, dropped off 20 Tupperware containers of spaghetti, and Claudine Graf made an entire dinner for the department one night! These people all were looking for a way to give back and help.

Twin Pines Casino went all out! They housed in their hotel a ton of evacuees and fed them all. Hidden Valley Lake also fed people that were evacuated.

The thing that also happened, that most people may not think of, was the fact that the call volume for Lake County Fire and 911 calls were reduced by 25% during the fire. People in the community, that normally wouldn’t think twice about calling 911 for assistance of some sort, didn’t place calls, and reduced the number of calls the fire and medic personnel had to make. That was huge!

As his family walked in, and I had errands to run, we wrapped up our conversation. The way Willie lights up at seeing his family is touching. I have known Willie about 30 years from just living in the same community, and my husband Charlie, has worked with him for a really long time. He’s a very dedicated man, Willie, and I was honored to interview him and hear his story. I want to thank him for taking the time out of his dreadfully busy schedule, to humor this writing fanatic!

Willie, your information was essential, and much appreciated. It gives me joy to be reminded of the heroic and also humble people of our community here in Lake County.

Next Blog: Some things I’ve learned about the rebuilding process for some of our fire victims. Also, future interviews to be posted in upcoming blogs.