23 replies to this topic

[Latitude Adjustment]

I hope he and his community are saved from the wildfires burning on Catalina, Ray

[CaptSaaz]

Is this an accidental fire or just nature taking its course? Forests actually need fires to clear out old and dead brush and trees to make for new growth. Still hope everyone is still safe and sound.

[Perkolater]

Heard about the fires this morning and Dr Bill was the first person I thought of... Any word????

Check in when you can Bill!

[jextract]

I called him yesterday afternoon and evening and haven't heard back from him. His place is up the hill from the city, so I'm especially worried.

[DandyDon]

Is this an accidental fire or just nature taking its course? Forests actually need fires to clear out old and dead brush and trees to make for new growth. Still hope everyone is still safe and sound.

What I saw of the Island when I took the tour to the airport and back was mostly grassland. Most of the island is owned by a conservatory - home to an endangered fox and buffalo descended from some brought over for a movie shoot decades ago.

I read that one home was lost before the fire was turned away from Avalon. Hope it wasn't Bill's, of course.

Residents anxious to return to Avalon
By Joe Mozingo and Jeff Rabin, Times Staff Writers
12:34 PM PDT, May 11, 2007

Avalon residents who spent the night on the mainland in evacuation centers or at friend's homes and businesses on Santa Catalina Island were eager to return today as a 4,000-acre blaze no longer appeared to immediately threaten the town.

About 90 people who left the island were still at the Red Cross overnight shelter at Cabrillo High School in Long Beach this morning. Some 138 people had stayed overnight, but middle school students from Phoenix, who had been evacuated from their science camp, took a charter bus home early this morning.

The remaining evacuees were given breakfast, which included oatmeal, cereal and cereal bars. At 8:45 a.m., to the delight of many, towels arrived so evacuees could take showers.

Avalon officials said this morning that they would probably lift an evacuation order that applied to part of the town so that residents could return. But many people who had fled were already heading back to the island.

George Scott, 67, a former mayor of Avalon who had been evacuated from the town's hospital, and his daughter, Autumn Scott, 40, were waiting this morning to take a ferry back to Catalina after spending the night at a Long Beach hotel. They shared the room with their black-and-white cat, Santa Claus.

"The flames were so bad, we got so scared," said Scott, who was being treated for a diabetes-related heart condition.

Scott said she was eager to get her father back to the hospital quickly.

"He's also in a wheelchair and is very feeble," he said. "I basically didn't want him to be hurt. I am so happy it didn't burn our house down."

Many evacuees never left the island, but scores of residents found that they had no choice Thursday but to leave after flames roared through backcountry brush and closed in on the picturesque town of Avalon.

"It's heartbreaking," said Amanda Cervantes, who has lived on the island for 24 years. She said people cried and fainted as they stood in long lines to board boats for the night crossing.

"Ash was falling everywhere," Nicole Williamson, 14, said after arriving at Long Beach Harbor with her cockatiel.

Sarah Perez, 33, fled with her husband, Luis, and their 6-month-old daughter, stuffing two suitcases with clothes and family photos.

"The flames were huge," Sarah Perez said. "It looked like they put it out, and then wind flared up and a giant fire was coming toward town…. We had to get out of there. It was raining ashes."

Leticia Garcia, her five children, son-in-law and three grandchildren have lived on the island for 12 years. They boarded a ferry after hurrying from their apartment building, which was in the path of the fire.

"It's bad," Garcia said. "We got five minutes to get our stuff."

Catalina Express sent six boats for the evacuees.

Some residents who were on the mainland when the fire broke out made frantic cellphone calls and waited anxiously at the harbor for boats carrying relatives and friends.

"Our school has burned; the graveyard has burned," said Michael Wenger, 14, who had traveled with his mother to Long Beach for an orthodontia appointment. They stayed there and were waiting Thursday night for Michael's father and other relatives.

Reyna Virgen, 13, was evacuated on a 7:45 p.m. ferry.

"At first, it seemed like it calmed down," she said of the blaze. "Then the wind picked up, and we could see the fire running back to the beach and the helicopters trying to stop it.

"It was just a big mess. A whole bunch of people were crying."

City buses took evacuees to Cesar E. Chavez Park in Long Beach, where the American Red Cross set up a temporary shelter. The residents were later moved to Cabrillo High School in west Long Beach.

Leonardo Garcia, 14, was at the center with his pregnant mother and 16-year-old brother. The boys had tried to be strong for their mom. "All I could think about is if we were going to be safe, and if our house was going to be burned down," said Leonardo.

Back at the harbor, Carly Wills, 21, who grew up on Catalina and now lives in San Diego, waited for a ferry carrying her aunt and uncle. Her parents refused to leave.

Wills said the most enchanting spots on the island are in the interior.

"The beautiful part is what the tourists don't get to see," she said. "It sticks with you. Who gets to say you grew up on Catalina?"

Edited by DandyDon, 11 May 2007 - 01:57 PM.

[dustbowl diver]

Hope all is well Dr B!!!

[Basslet]

Yeah Bill, check in when you can. Thinking about you,

[Perkolater]

Just saw on ABC news the owner of the home that burned.

It wasn't Dr. Bill.

I'm struggling with calling that good news because for that particular homeowner it most certainly isn't, but I am glad it wasn't Bill on TV.

[DandyDon]

Ok, Bill - enough of this. Now we know you didn't go down fighting a losing battle for your home, you must be shacked up on the mainland - reading anonymously and enjoying the attention. Come on out and tell us about the hot thang you met on the evacuation.

[mantarraya]

Maybe in the flush of all this trauma, Bill finally met the woman of his dreams, and is shacked up with her somewhere.

Well, we can hope, can't we?

[annasea]

Bill posted a thread here with an update of the situation.

[DandyDon]

Bill posted a thread here with an update of the situation.

Thanks - ok, he got power back fast enough, but his net connection was down until today. I'd read the name of the home owners their's, but didn't recognize it out of diving context anyway. Really nice folks I dived with one. Sorry to hear it was one of ours....

Fortunately so are all the other hgomes in the City of Avalon but one. Mayor Bob Kennedy and wife Tina's (owners of Catalina SCUBA Luv and the King Neptune) house was about 50 yards from where the fire was stopped. All the other divers I know on the island are also safe. Unfortunately CDS lost their warehouse in the back of Avalon Canyon along with a lot of inventory.

[drbill]

Hi all. Many thanks for the concern. It was taking 7-8 minutes for each page to load in the poor Internet connectiuon I had until an hour ago, and there were so many e-mails, PM's and phone calls to respond to once I finally got back into my house for good. We were evacuated twice. Electricity went out but is back. Gas has been turned off. Internet was down (and isn't fully up yet for me).

Only one home lost. I saw the family yesterday and they were actually all smiles. Very impressed with their philosophical attitude. Fire was stopped 150 yards from my house. Thought I'd lost it twice and spent hours yesterday watching a very serious flare up very close to the house. Two water-dropping helicopters and a team of about a dozen firefighters on the ground got it under control a few hours later, but it was scary to watch after things seemed safe.

Visitors are not being allowed to come to the island on the commercial carriers. Dive park was EMPTY on sunny Friday and Saturday afternoons. I didn't dive, but I may tomorrow.

We have nearly 800 firefighters on the island. Local businesses and residents are volunteering to feed them, and I'm sure I will go down there tonight or certainly tomorrow to help out. Every time I see firefighters on our streets I yell out thanks and get teary eyed. These men and women did a GREAT job of saving my town.

I was never in fear for my personal safety. I live on an island surrounded by water, and I'm a SCUBA diver! I'd just jump in the water if it got that close (and it really looked like it might Thursday evening... there was a huge wall of flames coming right down the cnyon at us). I was very concerned for my house, and thought at least twice I had lost it in flare-ups.

Was trying to figure out what I'd do if the house was lost. I gave thought to a dream dive trip... the Red Sea, the Maldives and the Galapagos. After receiving another lesson that nothing lasts forever (especially this body as I approach Sexy Sixty), I may just take the trip anyway.

Thanks for all the concern.

[nurseshark]

WHEW!!!!
So glad you and your home are safe and sound!
Sounds like you NEED a trip after that..

Karen

[SuperDave]

Bill,
Glad to hear you and you community came through the ordeal in one (almost) piece.
Take care,
SD