The case of fire

On the way to church, you stop for coffee. Out front, where people now gather on the sidewalk because of COVID, the talk is all about last night’s storm. Did you see the lightning? Did you hear the thunder or the wind? 

On the rest of the way to church, the roads are littered with redwood needles. In some places, branches have fallen and are barely off the pavement. The storm has left a lot of duff on the ground and in one driveway, you notice a car impaled by a tree limb. “Poor guy,” you think, “I hope his insurance will cover the damage.”

Monday, things appear normal. No more talk of the storm since those conversations Sunday morning. On Tuesday, however, after a trip “over the hill,” you notice on the drive back, there appear to be pockets of smoke in certain canyons below Skyline. It looks ominous but trust it is being taken care of by Cal Fire. From what you can see, it seems to be coming from a remote area near Memorial Park in San Mateo County. Given where you’re headed, you have little concern.

As you drive along, there looks like there are other areas where fires have ignited. These look to be just north of Highway 9. As you travel down off of Skyline, you can see there are fires in that direction, although it is unclear how many and exactly where. Still, you figure the fire guys will take care of them.

Later in the evening, your cellphone shrieks. Always before, these warning signals have been about a missing person. Not this time. It’s about the fire. The warning advises to prepare for possible evacuation. 

Your wife asks, “Should we get prepared to go?” Not wanting to show panic, you say it would be a good idea to gather the important papers, things like the vehicle titles, passports and insurance documents and put them where they can be easily grabbed.

About an hour later, a second warning comes. This time the word “possible” is absent. It is advising to prepare for evacuation. Now it is getting real. You must consider what can be quickly gathered together, what will be needed to be away from home for an unknown period of time and what is absolutely necessary to take and have with you should the home not survive. Not decisions easily made in a short period of time but ones that must be made nevertheless.

Your wife says she’d like to go and pick up your son from work. If he takes the bus like usual, he won’t be back until 11:30 p.m. Do you stay and wait? Will the bus make it in time or not at all? If you don’t get him, will he be separated from you? If she goes, might you be separated from the two of them? Ultimately, it is decided she should go. She takes with her the essentials she needs plus our son’s. At least if separated, they’ll have those things.

This is not an imaginary story. It is real life. It is what my family faced this past week. We were not separated and found sanctuary at our church, south of where we live and a safe distance from the fire zone. We went there at the invitation of our pastor who texted us right before my wife left to get our son. We have been blessed to be there since.

We are thankful to the volunteer fire departments of Boulder Creek, Brookdale, Ben Lomond and Felton. They are doing amazing work. We are thankful, too, for the mutual aid departments who have come alongside. And we are thankful for the Sheriff’s Department and other law enforcement who are protecting our homes from the unfortunate looters. Shame on them.

If you are wondering what you can do to help, I’d advise donating directly to any of the volunteer fire departments of the small communities in either San Mateo or Santa Cruz counties.

A former member of the San Carlos City Council and mayor, Matt Grocott has been involved in political policy on the Peninsula for 17 years. He can be reached by email at mattgrocott@comcast.net.