HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE >> Thanks to community donations, the Valley Fire refugees living at the Hidden Valley Lake (HVL) Campground have seen conditions improve overall over the past two weeks.
This comes even as the weather conditions have worsened, with several recent bouts of rain and low temperatures in the 30s. Many of the more than 100 people once living at the campground have left. About 70 people and several dozen cats and dogs remain at the location.
Camp organizer Casey Morgan, formerly of Cobb, said that since Oct. 28, when their plight became known by the public, six families and individuals once living in tents are now “off the ground” and in travel trailers donated by the Moose Lodge in Clearlake Oaks.
Morgan, who camp residents have nicknamed “Mama,” was expecting another donated trailer to arrive last weekend but still needs more.
“We need at least four more trailers to use for a couple of months,” she said Friday. “This would allow me to get a lot more people off the ground.”
Although conditions in the campground have generally improved, the future of its residents remains very much uncertain.
Morgan said her biggest fear is that more people will become discouraged and leave not only the campground but Lake County. The problem is the dearth of affordable rental houses and apartments in South County, according to Morgan and camp residents.
“As far as I know, no one from the camp has found a rental,” Morgan said.
Campground residents are among the thousands of people displaced by the devastating Valley Fire that destroyed 1,280 homes and 27 multi-family structures, including apartment buildings, in September.
Many campground refugees lived in a single large apartment building in Middletown that was destroyed in the fire. Morgan said she heard the building will not be replaced, leaving its former occupants to look for other shelter.
“We need desperately to keep our people in the community,” Morgan said. “I’m very worried about these people not finding homes.”
Many of the refugees want to remain in South County due to jobs and school but fear they will be priced out of the existing rentals in the Middletown, Cobb and Hidden Valley Lake areas.
Morgan added people from the Middletown apartments paid about $725 a unit for rent, which was already a large chunk of most of their incomes.
“Anything over $1,000 a month is unacceptable,” she said. “It’s just not possible.”
In the past week, the camp received a large tent to use as a cooking and warming area. The camp also received a donated washer and dryer.
Camp resident Bernie Hosmer, the unofficial camp cook, said the tent and another one the camp expects to get are much needed and appreciated.
“I’m trying to run this like a real kitchen,” Hosmer said Thursday. “I keep it neat and clean because we can’t afford for people to get sick.”
The second large tent will be used as both an eating and warming area, with heaters and lights.
“It will be a place where we can come together as a family and eat,” Hosmer said. “Some people see us as refugees but I look at us as one big family.”
Emotions in the camp still run high, both optimistic and pessimistic. “We all have ups and downs with our emotions,” Hosmer said. “There are better days and there are worse days.”
John Fleenor and his son, Kevin, of Middletown, were in the camp Thursday setting up a fifth-wheel trailer for a friend who lost everything in the fire. The pair said they did not expect any praise for their endeavor.
“It’s the right thing to do,” John Fleenor said. “I can’t say no when a friend need help. That’s just the way it is.”
One of the camp residents still living in a tent is Monica Rainey, formerly of Middletown, who has been in the campground with her husband for about a week. The couple lost their home in the fire.
“Being in a tent sucks,” she said. Thursday. The couple dug a trench around their tent to divert rain runoff. “We were lucky and didn’t get anything wet.”
Despite the recent rains and cold overnight temperatures, “Everyone for the most part seems to be okay,” Hosmer said.
The campground abuts Putah Creek which fire refugees fear could turn into a raging river that overflows into the campground with the coming winter rains projected to be heavy, thanks to a potent El Nino system of unusually warm water in the eastern Pacific.
A camp resident who wanted to be identified by his spiritual name, Godjoy, has been in the camp nearly six weeks but said he is not worried about his future.
“I don’t complain much except that the rain is a nuisance and it gets really cold in the early morning,” he said Thursday. “But the universe has provided for me before and it’s taking care of me now.”
When the Record-Bee spoke with camp resident Carolyn Danning, formerly of Cobb, for the Oct. 28 article, she had just arrived at the camp with her son and daughter-in-law, setting up house in a trailer, donated by the Moose Lodge. Prior to coming to the HVL campground, the family pitched their tents for three weeks at the Cache Creek Campgrounds east of Clearlake Oaks.
“It’s a big difference from being in a tent,” Danning said of life in the trailer. “It feels more like a home. It’s a lot warmer and my dog is happier.”
She said the family “loves it” at the camp and finds the other residents friendly and helpful. “People make dinner for us so we don’t have to cook and no one hassles us,” she added.
During the recent rains, the Dannings found that the trailer’s roof leaked but they did a temporary fix with a tarp. The hope to move to an RV park within a month.
The camp is well-stocked with donated food, water and clothing but several camp volunteers and residents said they still need firewood, laundry detergent, bleach, dryer sheets and laundry baskets (people are using old cardboard boxes right now.) Also needed are several ice chests since the people in tents have no way to store cold food items, like milk.
Probably the most useful items the camp residents need are gift cards, especially for Walmart, Safeway and Hardester’s Markets, as well as other South County retailers. The cards can be used to buy small items that people need that aren’t covered by donated items and will help them with Thanksgiving and Christmas expenses. Also, it’s helpful for the cards to be in smaller denominations, such as $20, $15 and $10.
