Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Enough already

Posted @ 10:53 PM

Some Julian residents were beginning to feel Tuesday as if they'd taken a few too many gut punches.
Parts of the backcountry community got their second evacuation order in just two months.
The Witch Creek fire was the third in five months to hit residents. Those followed the Cedar fire of 2003, which destroyed hundreds of homes in the hamlets of Harrison Park and Cuyamaca.
Rob Tracy's home was one of them.
"I won't stay in Julian if this house burns," Tracy said Tuesday night, while on duty as a California Highway Patrol officer at a road block near Lake Henshaw.
Tracy and his family had moved to Kentwood in the Pines after their Harrison Park home burned in the Cedar fire. He worked Tuesday night while his wife and three daughters made their way to Murrieta to stay with family.
This time around, Tracy expressed optimism that his house would survive. Just in case, he had stashed some personal treasures, including his guitar, his wife's jewelry, his daughter's stuffed animals and his late father's photo album from World War II, in his patrol car.
He said he was puzzled why some of his neighbors were reluctant to leave after the order to evacuate came at about 4 p.m.
"You only have to lose everything once to become a believer," he said. "I was amazed (after) the last fire how fast stuff regenerates."
"It was really weird to watch San Diego burning and we were up here with blue skies. Til Now," he said. "This is familiar territory, unfortunately."
- Michael Burge

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have been reading and looking at comments people are leaving around the area of all tehse fires, now i know alot of housholds are being smoked out due to the heavy flame, My dad owns a air purifying prduct that can deffinatley help he is willing to go anywhere to bring them
they will help! please contanct me
Beautiflybroken1991@yahoo.com