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.

  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.