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Re: Anyone still around? - A tale of CZU

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On 5/29/21 20:44, pH wrote:
> On 2021-05-29, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com> wrote:
>> On Wed, 26 May 2021 23:42:50 -0700, BCFD36 <bcfd36@cruzio.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Haven't heard anything for quite some time. Anyone still around?
>>
>> I'm still here.
>>
> Hi, Jeff!
> 
> Captain Scruggs sent everyone a cheery Hello and has now disappeared into
> the ether.
> 
> How close did the last fire (See-Zee-Ewe!) get to your palatial abode?
> 
> How 'bout you, Captain?  Did fire threaten you?
> 
> pH in Aptos where a "warming fire" (hah, don't believe it) was down below us
> in Niscene Marks (sp).
> 
> pH
> 

I didn't disappear, there is too much of me to just disappear. I got 
busy with life and just now got back to Usenet.

We are still good. The fire did not cross over Hwy 9 so we were okay in 
that respect. We never (or at least not for long) lost power so we did 
not have the dead refrigerator problem that many others had. We were 
evacuated for a couple of weeks though, first due to the fire danger, 
then due to the possibility of the water being contaminated.

I spent the first 11 days of the fire at the fire house except when I 
went to my mother's house in Sunnyvale to sleep and de-stress.

There are many stories to tell about the fire, and I can't tell most of 
them. There were many things going on that were not for public 
consumption. I am going to just keep my damn mouth shut.

But I will say this... Chief Bingham and BCFD and with the Cal Fire 
Engine Crews (note that I said engine crews) saved Boulder Creek, along 
with Carl Kustin and his personal connections from all over the USA and 
the world. BCFD got help that was completely unexpected and completely 
necessary.

I got a call from Chief Bingham early on the first day when things got 
interesting asking if I could come down and answer phones in the office. 
I asked how soon he needed me and he said ASAP. So down I went to the 
station. I proceeded to answer phones for the next 36 hours, with a 
break here and there. The evacuation took place that night. It was 
crazy. I had called my wife and told her to pack the car earlier "just 
in case". "Just in case" happened and she took off with the valuables 
and the dog about 9:30 pm for my mother's house in Sunnyvale. My oldest 
daughter and her kids, dog, and cat joined her in the procession going 
down Bear Creek. It took quite a long while to get to Sunnyvale.

Meanwhile, I am fielding phone calls. It was harrowing. I don't know how 
the 911 operators do it. I've fought wildland fires, crawled into 
burning buildings, gone into wrecked cars to check for survivors, done 
CPR too many times and none of it was as stressful as answering those 
phones. The call from Lodge Road from a older couple who was real close 
to getting burned over was maybe the worst, except when their grown kids 
called from Lake Tahoe to tell me the same thing that their parents told 
me. I had told the parents to just get in the car and drive and don't 
stop for anything. We had no engines available, they were all committed 
on other problems. And whatever was going to happen would be over before 
we got an engine to Lodge Road. I am happy to report they made it out.

The next afternoon, Chief and Cal Fire and everyone else was convinced 
downtown BC was going to be overrun. That is what should have happened. 
Chief asked me to leave and I did. I didn't want to. I mean I REALLY 
didn't want to, but I didn't want him to worry about me. So I left. One 
of the guys who was on BCFD early in my time there was cooking for the 
troops borrowed some gear and got on a private water tender.

After everyone was supposed to be gone, he closed all the doors, 
searched the building to make sure no one was still there, and all 
engines patrolled the downtown BC area. His plan was to at least save 
downtown. At that time, there were engines 2110, 2111, 2137, 2142, Water 
Tender 2152, some private water tenders, and some command vehicles.

Before I left town, I went back home. I had some fire hose I had been 
given from Lockheed and connected it to the nearest hydrant. I proceeded 
to wet down everything I could. I then grabbed my keyboard (my wife had 
taken the computer, but not the keyboard) and some other stuff my wife 
had no room for. I then video taped my entire house to document what we 
were going to lose. BTW, in a very early conversation with Chief, he 
told me that he was not going to send any engines into my (and his) 
neighborhood since there is only one way in and one way out and he was 
not going to risk it. I told him I never had thought anyone would be up 
there.

I went to Sunnyvale. It was a near thing since I was exhausted and am 
too old for this shit. I posted on the 19th that I thought there was a 
50% chance that my house would make it. I'm glad to say that it did. 
There is no good reason why nothing over burned. I found my yard and 
deck covered with burned and black leaves and needles.

I went back the next day. Carl had showed up and started taking things 
in hand at the station. The boys and girls had been sleeping on the hard 
cement floor of the engine bay when they could get any sleep. At least 
we were eating good.

My son, who is on BCFD but was waiting to go to a HAZMAT school for the 
Air Force National Guard had asked me to get our Air Bed for his 
girlfriend and come pillows so I had her taken care of. Carl started 
getting sleeping space set up in the rec hall with cots and sleeping 
bags and whatnot. Someone had to do it, but there were just not enough 
people. The young'uns were fighting the fire, I was trying answering 
phones, my buddy Kirk was cooking, and that was it.

This is getting rather long. I am only to day 3 of 11.

There is one more story though, and it is my favorite story. I played a 
small part in it. Whilst answering phones, on the 19th I believe, I 
picked up the phone and I hear, "Its me." WTF? Oh! "Robert, what's going 
on?" "I'm gonna come home, I can't sit out here." Now I am really 
confused. How is he going to leave a military base (Ft. Leonard Wood, 
Missouri) while in quarantine waiting for his class to start. He had 
just finished Basic Training in Texas and this was his next post.

He says, "I don't know but I'm going to do it." A couple of hours later 
he calls back and says that the Red Cross is going to call and get 
details. I went out in the engine bay where there were some people 
getting some food and some rest and told them that if they took a call 
from the Red Cross, give them to me. And I put a note next to all the 
other phones that that affect.

In a couple of more hours I see "American Red Cross" pop up on the phone 
LCD and answer. I talk to a nice lady at Lackland AFB who is with the 
RC. "Robert is trying to get home on a Compassionate Leave. I understand 
that there are a few houses on fire and his may be one of them."

Me: "No Ma'am", in my best Texan, "there's 48,000 acres on fire. He is a 
firefighter here. We could use the help."

"Oh, okay. Who am I speaking to please?", in a deep West Texas accent. 
Actually, you have reached his father. I am on phone duty."

"Oh, okay. Is there anyone else that can confirm all of this?"

"Let me go look and see who is around." I put the phone down next to the 
radio so she could enjoy all the radio traffic and went out into the 
engine bay. It is empty. There is no one to be seen except the cook.

I go back to the phone, "There is just me and the guy cooking. Everyone 
else is out fighting the fires."

"Oh, okay. I will take care of it." Another hour later Robert calls back 
and says he will be home tomorrow, not sure what time yet. It turns out 
that he talked to the Sergent at the AFT who called his Sergent at 
Moffett Field who called the RC who called me.

I picked him up at 7 pm the next day. Note that he has been gone for a 
couple of months by this time. Getting OUT of Boulder Creek and the rest 
of the San Lorenzo Valley was not difficult at this time, it was getting 
back in that was difficult. They had CHP and Santa Cruz County Deputies 
manning road blocks and almost no one was getting through. Fortunately, 
I still have my BCFD Id, a helmet and some turnout pants so not only do 
I look like I belong, I have an Id to prove it.

At the time they were seriously thinking that the fire was going to make 
a run down the Bear Creek drainage that night. I went out that way, but 
my plan was to come back through Scotts Valley. Robert is dressed in his 
uniform and carrying a duffel bag. Unbeknownst to me, he has contacted a 
buddy he played football with that is with the CHP to smooth the way 
through the roadblocks. We get to the roadblock and I am about 5th in 
line. I pulled out my Id and we wait. The cops are having no excuses and 
everyone is getting turned around. Robert's buddy is nowhere in sight.

It is my turn finally. I am holding my Id out of the window but before 
the CHP even saw the Id said, "Scruggs? Go right on through". He had 
seen the uniform. I didn't need the Id this time.

To wrap this thing up, we drove through the valley that was eerily 
deserted and quiet. I drove past the station and parked over on the 
side. Before I had even stopped, his girlfriend had the car open, yanked 
him out of the car, and proceeded with what looked like an assault. Or 
something.

There is much more, but it is late and no one read this far anyway.

-- 
Dave Scruggs
Captain, Boulder Creek Fire (Retired)
Sr. Software Engineer - Stellar Solutions (Definitely Retired)

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