LOWER LAKE >> Chris Emberson has been through this before.
The one-time Middletown High School football and baseball star watched the two homes he grew up in burn to the ground on Cobb Mountain during the ultra-destructive Valley Fire last September. Fast-forward 11 months and the Lower Lake High School teacher and softball coach is dealing with the fallout from another destructive wildland fire, this time the Clayton Fire, which roared through downtown Lower Lake and the surrounding area on Sunday, leaving many homeless and forcing the temporary evacuation of thousands. Two of his own players lost their home and everything they owned.
“Two that I know of,” Emberson said.
With Lower Lake High School off limits right now to all but those cleaning up the campus, which sustained minor damage – mostly smoke damage – Emberson said he hasn’t had a chance to meet with all of his players in person. He’s spoken with many as possible on the phone and will meet with them once school starts at Lower Lake. The first day was supposed to be Monday until the Clayton Fire rolled through town on Sunday. There is a chance school could start this coming Monday, but it might be another week.
“I heard it could be Monday, but that’s probably optimistic,” Emberson said.
While the high school suffered only minor damage, the softball team took a direct hit, losing its metal storage shed and everything inside. One of the most successful sports teams at the high school now has only its new game jerseys and a few sets of pants left, and while the 2017 season won’t begin until February, Emberson is already scrambling to replace more than $23,000 in lost equipment. Of that total, more than $19,000 belonged to the high school team and the other $4,000-plus to the middle school softball team.
“I moved those (new game jerseys) up into the gym, but we don’t have much room to store things there,” Emberson said. “Everything else was in the storage shed and it’s gone.”
The storage shed, which is located behind a fence in the out-of-play area up the first-base line, was a total write-off as the Clayton Fire burned up close to both the softball and baseball fields before being turned back by firefighters. Some of the neighboring homes and outbuildings also were destroyed.
“I heard rumors on Sunday it was gone,” Emberson said. “Jessica (Taliaferro, the Lower Lake High principal) sent me a photo on Monday. It was a pretty good-size shed with shelves in it where we stored everything.”
Emberson said the shed used to hold all the track equipment at Oak Hill Middle School, which is now closed.
“Basically everything we had was in there,” Emberson said.
The “everything” includes a wireless scoreboard controller, three pitching machines, game balls, three complete sets of catcher’s equipment, practice balls, pitching machine balls, catcher’s gloves, hitting nets, bases, temporary fencing, shovels, rakes, a wheelbarrow, equipment bags, pants, jerseys and other items.
Emberson said he doesn’t know how much of the $23,000 loss will be covered by the school’s insurance. Neither does the school’s new athletic director, Koda Livingston, who replaced the outgoing Emberson, the AD the past five years.
“We’re hoping it will cover it all, but we don’t know yet,” Livingston said.
Livingston has been working pretty much non-stop the last few days trying to get Lower Lake’s athletic house in order as the fall sports season is underway. All of the school’s fall teams – football, volleyball and soccer – are practicing at different locations for now.
“I got on campus the other day,” Livingston said. “The softball field is a little scorched and the baseball field got singed on the edges, but everything else looks pretty good.”
The softball team wasn’t the only fire casualty in terms of equipment loss. The girls’ soccer team lost all of its uniforms and the football team had three blocking/tackling sleds destroyed. The soccer uniforms weren’t actually at the school when the fire hit but had been taken home by coach Heather Murray, who was going to wash them before issuing them to players. Murray’s house was destroyed by the fire, according to Livingston.
Individuals, clubs and groups are already stepping forward to help replace the lost equipment, according to both Livingston and Emberson.
“A handful of people have reached out to us,” Emberson said. “We appreciate all the community support. That’s one of the good things that comes out of something like this.”
Several schools, businesses and sports teams – especially the Oakland Raiders – came forward to replace equipment lost by Middletown High teams during the Valley Fire. Emberson said he is hoping the same thing happens at Lower Lake.
“We’re getting help from the community … it’s just amazing to see the community support when something like this happens,” Livingston said.
Middletown High School stepped up first by donating and lending needed equipment to the Lower Lake football program. Livingston said an offer of a storage shed has been made and that the Lake County Junior Giants program has offered to replace some of the lost soccer equipment.
Emberson said that anyone who wants to help the softball team can do so by mailing a check made payable to Lower Lake High softball. Send the check to Lower Lake High School, C/O Chris Emberson, 9430 Lake St., Lower Lake, CA, 95457.
