HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE >> On a cool, rainy day, it’s hard to think about wildfire season but that’s exactly what was on the minds of around 100 people, mostly from Hidden Valley Lake, who attended a wildfire expo Saturday.
The event, in the Hidden Valley Lake Campground, featured booths with representatives from CalFire, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the American Red Cross and several other agencies along with several booths selling items, including fire resistant plants.
Hidden Valley Lake resident Bonnie Thompson was at the expo with her daughter, Emma Langford, 10, just gathering information. She said the Valley Fire last September taught her a lot about evacuation preparedness.
“I’m ready,” she said with confidence. “Last time, I forgot to take my pet records with me. Now I know what to take with me.”
She also said she would probably buy some plants at the Hidden Valley Lake Garden Club booth’s plant sale.
During the Valley Fire, Thompson said she had to evacuate so quickly that she left just-made tacos on the kitchen counter. “But I feel fortunate that I saw the fire coming over a (nearby) ridge and had time to get out.”
Diana Marshal of Hidden Valley Lake was one of the volunteers at the garden club booth that offered a variety of plants for sale. The club usually has a plant sale the day before Mother’s Day.
Marshal revealed a surprising bit of information. “There’s no interest in fire resistant plants,” she said. “There’s more interest in plants that are deer resistant.”
District 1 Supervisor candidate Voris Brumfield of Anderson Springs was at the event gathering information — some written, some verbal — about preparing for the next wildfire. She said was learning about the resources available to people before, during and after a wildland fire.
“This is a phenomenal idea that should be held on an annual basis,” Brumfield said. “Education is critical.”
CalFire Battalion Chief Paul Duncan agrees. He said the expo was “absolutely helpful” for visitors, especially because it brought a number of agencies together in one location.
He said CalFire personnel at the event were getting a variety of questions but a lot on burn restrictions that are now in effect in Lake County.
There was also this: “I’m finding that a lot of people still want to talk about the Valley Fire.”
He added, “It was a big trauma in their lives so I just talk with them and let them express what they feel.”
Duncan also talked about wildfires in a global way. “The environment is changing,” he said. “Fires are behaving in a way that firefighters are not used to, at least not in our lifetimes. The fires are very hot and very fast. It doesn’t give us time to do much of anything but evacuate.”
When Duncan talked about the Valley Fire, it was with deep emotion. He lost his home in Hidden Valley Lake to the inferno that destroyed nearly 1,300 homes, 27 apartment buildings and 66 businesses.
Lola Barron of Hidden Valley Lake also said the expo was a good idea, adding, “A lot of information is being disseminated. I’ve really stocked-up on literature that I intend to go home and read.”
She said that if there is another wildfire, she thinks she is better prepared to evacuate. Of the Valley Fire, Barron said, “It was a very frightening experience.”
The American Red Cross had one of the most popular booths, with volunteers handing out information and answering questions.
One man walked up to the booth and was asked if he was fire ready. He replied that he was and, responding to another question, also said he was prepared for his pets.
One volunteer held up a “Pet Alert” window decal that lists the number of pets in the house and asked the man, “Do you have one of these?”
The man responded, “I guess I’m not fire ready” and took one of the decals.
HVL resident Darin Holt was at the BLM booth getting a free trailer chain guard. He said he was mostly fire ready. “I still have some weeds to take care of,” he said.
The booths with the best free goodies were those of the BLM and CalFire. Besides trailer chain guards, the BLM personnel were giving away keychains, rulers, water bottles, lapel pins and pencils. The CalFire booth had plastic firefighter hats for the kids along with the traditional Smokey Bear park ranger-style hats, coloring books and stickers.
The Red Cross booth featured a giant handmade “Thinking of You” card to those affected by the wildfires currently burning out of control in Alberta, Canada, that visitors to the booth could sign or leave a message on.
Patrick Biguardi, a defensible space inspector for CalFire said he had received a lot of questions about defensible space, especially on brush and grass clearance around houses.
“The important message is to clear the brush from around your house,” he said. “If you don’t, eventually a fire will.”
“Also, a lot of people are looking for information on animal and pet evacuation, including horses and livestock,” Biguardi said.
One other thing he got was, “…a lot of thank you’s from people about our efforts in the Valley Fire. I really appreciate the thanks,” he said. “That’s why we’re in this job because we’re concerned about people’s property and personal safety.”
The event was in conjunction with Wildfire Awareness Week May 1-7.
