Editor's Note: Two North Valley mobile home parks were engulfed by this week's brush fires. At Sky Terrace Mobile Lodge, where residents already were under siege from a developer, dozens of homes were destroyed.
Down the raod at Blue Star Mobile Home Park, residents were luckier with several homes damaged but only one destroy. Residents had the scare of their lives, here's account of what it was like:
By Glenn Bell
Correstpondent
My wife, Jean, and I woke up
at our normal time at 5 a.m. Monday morning. We enjoy our early mornings together, as we have for the
25 years of our marriage.
It was not a normal morning. We were experiencing
a fire in the hills above us. Fire above Lopez and Kagel canyons is a pretty regular occurrence. Living on the edge of
Los Angeles, everyone in our situation has grown used to this. But this
time it was different. The smoke was much more rancid.
The glow of the fire seemed nearer than in times past.
Over the past couple of years
things have changed in our neighborhood. Los Angeles County has allowed
hundreds of diesel rigs to take up residence, without permits, directly
up the hill from us. Because of that we have all of that truck-traffic
and the pollutants that they cause driving 20 feet outside our bedroom
window at all hours of the day and night. We have called the county,
the city and the police many times and they will do nothing to remedy
the situation. The only reason I bring this up is that this Monday morning,
those trucks caused a severe and significant risk to the lives and safety
of the thousands of people living below them.
I started hearing explosions,
I don't remember how many, but there were more than a dozen. So I
went out to an area in front of my house to have a clear view of the
hill above us. My neighbor and I watched as the truck diesel tanks exploded.
As they exploded, the winds, blowing roughly 65 miles an hour, would
blow the burning fuel down the hill towards our community. With
every explosion I shuddered, fearing for our lives. It was the most
surreal thing I have ever seen. This set into motion a series of events
that will be seared into my memory forever.
At that same time a police
vehicle was traveling at a fast pace through our mobile home park, an
officer was screaming into his PA system, GET OUT, GET OUT NOW, THIS
IS AN IMMEDIATE AND MANDATORY EVACUATION!
Just like that, he was gone.
The evacuation notice was simply a "drive-by" shout into a loudspeaker.
There was no assistance offered for an orderly evacuation.
The nightmare
began with the fact that, Blue Star has 189 homes and at least 2 vehicles
per home (some homes have 3). My 3rd grade math tells
me that there were at least 415 vehicles that had exactly 5 minutes
to escape from one exit. The operators of this mobile home park refused
to open the emergency exit, so needless to say we were "log-jammed"
getting out of the park. People were amazingly patient, considering
that fire was raining down on them as they were stuck waiting to get
out of the park.
The site was something akin to a special effects
movie. It appeared that phosphorus was showering down upon us from the
skies, being driven by the 60 plus mile an hour wind. It was whipping
around at incredible speeds, being blown into any crevice, any space,
where it could land and do what fire does. In this line up of 50-60
cars who were at a dead stop, not for 5 minutes, but upwards of 30 minutes
or more. Senior Citizens in their 70 's and 80's, disabled people,
families with small children- all mercifully trapped in their cars,
hopelessly stuck going nowhere, waiting to be burned alive.
I remembered that there was
an emergency exit on the other side of the park, behind us. Without
opening that gate, it was certain, we would all die and something needed
to be done. The park manager sat in the clubhouse, relatively safe from
the firestorm raging around us, and refused to open the back gate so
cars could escape.
There was no visibility, the
smoke was black and the embers were red and white. The trees behind
us were throwing flames in the air hundreds of feet. I got out of the
truck and started looking into the cars that were stuck. I found
Judith, a 70 (plus) year old, single lady, who lives in the park. I
found Jim, also near 80 and undergoing treatment for cancer. His daughter
who had been living with him and caring for him was driving. She was
so terrified she could not stop crying.
Behind me were Maury's wife
and their 4 year old, beautiful little girl. I kept feeling my
way through the smoke and found two guys with a work truck. I still
don't know who they were, their names or what they were doing there.
I asked them if they had any tools, and when they affirmed, I told them
that they had to somehow get out of this line and get back to that back
gate and get it open or all would perish. The passenger ran off with
some tools as the driver tried to maneuver out of the bumper-to-bumper
line. Shortly after, people were turning around and making their way
to the back gate.
I wasn't the last to leave,
however. Most, by the time I got out, had to "sound" their way out
one, way or the other. My wife, in her car, was at least 20 ahead of
me in the line. I prayed that she had gotten out. We had just
canceled our cell phone service earlier this month, because of finances,
so I had no way to contact her.
The police and the firemen I stopped did not know where the evacuation center was and somehow, I had to find my wife. I knew that she did not know where to go but it was easy to guess her moves. My wife would go to McDonalds for sausage and egg mcmuffins. I looked for her there, but we missed each other and finally got back together at San Fernando High School, where the Red Cross had set up a shelter. I thanked every God in every religion for helping me to find her and for protecting everyone from the fire. By the way, it was the manager at our local McDonalds who told my wife where the evacuation center was when police and firemen should have known.
Now, how do we reconcile the inaction of this park owner and management? Their reckless behavior endangered my wife's life and the lives of countless others. What was their emergency evacuation plan? In all the years I have lived here, no one has ever prepared an evacuation plan for any of the tenants.There are going to be people interested in this situation. And we will go forward with it.
Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News where he spent 23 years helping to make the newspaper the voice of the San Fernando Valley and fighting for a city government that serves the people and not special interests.
Twice in recent years, Los Angeles Magazine listed Kaye among the city’s most influential people, specifically in the area of politics. Kaye has been variously described in the media as the “accidental anarchist,” “the Patrick Henry of the San Fernando Valley” and a “passionate populist.” He is now committed to
carrying on his crusade for a greater Los Angeles as an ordinary citizen. Previously, Ron worked at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner,
Associated Press, Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Australian as well as papers
in Fairbanks, Alaska and Yakima, Wash. He also wrote for Newsweek magazine, The Guardian in London and the National Enquirer.
Glenn,
Thanks for sharing your story.
There were clearly mistakes made by entities public and private in the response to the Marek Wildland Fire and the Sesnon Wildfire.
It was heartbreaking to read of your harrowing experience, and then to imagine that of the frail neighbors you describe.
While I have no insight specific to the Blue Star Mobile Home Park, I can strongly suggest that any and all of us prepare for emergencies - and that includes planning and practicing our escape from both home and neighborhood.
In the meanwhile, I encourage you to take your concerns and observations to elected leaders (at all levels), so that there can be meaningful analysis and improvement of both the private and public shortcomings related to recent Southern California wildfires.
Glenn, thanks again for giving insight into a situation that none of us ever hopes to experience firsthand.
Respectfully Yours in Safety and Service,
Brian Humphrey
Firefighter/Specialist
Public Service Officer
Los Angeles Fire Department
Sue the living **** out of the mobile park owners, Glenn.
They more than deserve it in oh so many ways.
Glenn,
There is a meeting for fire victims at North Valley City Hall,Tomorrow Night,( Wednesday)
7:00 p.m. ( Wendy Greuels office)in Tujunga.
Many City Officials will be there along with Fire, Red Cross, Etc.
I will take a couple of copies of this story with me, But I hope to see you there.
People need to know. You could be saving the lives of others, if this gets addressed.
Lydia Grant
Glenn,
There is a meeting for fire victims at North Valley City Hall,Tomorrow Night,( Wednesday)
7:00 p.m. ( Wendy Greuels office)in Tujunga.
Many City Officials will be there along with Fire, Red Cross, Etc.
I will take a couple of copies of this story with me, But I hope to see you there.
People need to know. You could be saving the lives of others, if this gets addressed.
Lydia Grant
Glenn,
There is a meeting for fire victims at North Valley City Hall,Tomorrow Night,( Wednesday)
7:00 p.m. ( Wendy Greuels office)in Tujunga.
Many City Officials will be there along with Fire, Red Cross, Etc.
I will take a couple of copies of this story with me, But I hope to see you there.
People need to know. You could be saving the lives of others, if this gets addressed.
Lydia Grant