HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE >> As the days grow shorter with winter’s approach, so do the tempers of some of the homeless residents living in the Hidden Valley Lake Campground.
With just over two weeks to go before the Valley Fire survivors and others at the campground must leave, the general camp atmosphere has deteriorated along with conditions at the site.
Among the problems camp residents complained about are fighting, loud music and partying late at night, heavy drinking, and an influx of residents who are homeless for reasons other than being displaced by September’s devastating fire. Other reasons cited by residents include a lack of security and organization.
Some in the campground pointed to two male residents as among the camp’s biggest problems, saying the men are not Valley Fire victims.
“In the last two weeks, freeloaders have been coming in off the streets, just the average homeless persons,” said camp resident Cathy Green, who lost her home in the fire. She said she has been living in the Hidden Valley Lake Campground for almost two months.
“It’s been loud at night with fighting and screaming,” Green said. “People here have been on edge ever since we found out we would have to leave. People are tense and I’m just waiting for everything to blow. Everyone was real nice here at first but now…”
The two men declined to answer questions Thursday but said the news media was not welcome in the camp.
Unofficial campground organizer Casey Morgan did not return several telephone messages left for her on Thursday. Several residents at the campground said Morgan has “resigned” as organizer due mainly to the problems at the camp, which has 50-70 residents. Most are in trailers or RVs but a few remain in tents.
“It seems like we kind of just got forgotten about,” said Brandon Dunlap, formerly of Anderson Springs. “Without someone running the show, it (camp organization) kind of fell apart.”
He said “some people” were unhappy with the way Morgan was running the camp but that when she quit, “No one else stepped up.”
Several residents said it’s their understanding that the deadline to be out is Dec. 7 but many residents said they have nowhere to go.
Dunlap said he has been in the camp “since it first opened” in late September, living in a donated RV, and has had no problems with Morgan. “I’ve gotten gift cards from her and those have been really helpful.”
Camp resident Bernie Hosmer, the unofficial camp cook, said the problem is that “new, homeless people, not fire-related,” have set up residence in the campground.
Hosmer said he, like most others in the camp, has no place to go when he leaves the campground. “People are scrambling. We don’t know what we’re going to do.”
Donations of prepared food to the camp kitchen have dropped off in recent days, leaving most people to either cook in their RVs, at their campsites, or go to a restaurant.
That food drought ended Thursday night when Hidden Valley Lake residents Linda Goodwin and Lucy Belk dropped off a half-dozen large foil pans of homemade casseroles and dinner rolls.
“We know people who lost their homes in the fire,” Goodwin said. “We just wanted to do something and food seems to be something people can always use.”
Added Belk, “We love people and the Lord wanted us to do this.”
Both women are members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Middletown.
Most 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.
Residents interviewed in the camp Thursday said they are uncertain of their future and many find it especially difficult to contemplate their fate during the Thanksgiving holiday.
“I don’t know where I’m going next,” Dunlap said. “I’ll probably have to go to the Walmart parking lot until I find something else.”
Dunlap has a more immediate problem: his donated RV needs three batteries that cost about $150 each, a price tag beyond his reach at the moment. “I can’t go anywhere until I get those.”
He said he is thankful for the RV that was donated to him but is uncertain of what his mood will be on Thanksgiving.
“I don’t think it will be depressing but I don’t really know,” he said. “I’m not really angry or bitter. I just have to deal with the cards given to me.”
He praised residents of Hidden Valley Lake, saying the community’s help has been “amazing.”
Green also needs to have her RV repaired before she can leave the camp. She lives there with her 15-year-old daughter along with a cat, dog and guinea pig. “Until I get my RV fixed, I’m in limbo,” she said.
Another problem is that the stove and oven in Green’s RV doesn’t work due to a propane gas tank leak so she will be unable to cook Thanksgiving dinner for herself and her daughter.
She doesn’t know where she will go when she leaves the campground. “I know I can’t go home and I know I can’t afford rent because I live on disability.”
Green said she owned her Anderson Springs house mortgage-free but will be unable to rebuild because it was not insured.
With several exceptions, camp residents seem resigned to an early December departure from the campground, which abuts a tributary of Putah Creek and is in an officially-designated flood plain.
A camp resident who did not want to be identified said she has been in the camp about a week. She lost her house and pets in the Valley inferno.
“A lot of people have come in here who did not lose their homes (to the fire),” she said Thursday evening. “The mood here is really sad. There’s a lot of drama that I don’t want to get in the middle of.”
The woman said she has “no idea” what she is going to do or go when the move-out deadline comes. However, she added that there is one thing she is sure of: “Nothing is ever going to be the same in my life again.”
