Fleeing in El Chup

[ClickClickBoom]

As some may remember, my test course involved a bunch of Santa Cruz roads. Well most of the best ones are crispy. Out of all the vehicles(911 , turbo diesel Landcruiser, 2 1/2 ton M109 Deuce military truck and too many motorcycles), I had, the 911 Carrera was the choice to flee in. It’s fast, handles like a squirrel on crack, so it was the obvious choice. The volumetric storage/packing area was limited, but the choice was the classic chicken/fox/grain across the river conundrum. All the tools, spare parts and shop was abandoned. I filled the car to the brim and fled like secret police were knocking. Fast forward, 544 homes burnt, 100 square miles toasted, my house and shop still stand. I was lucky, many weren’t. Lots of people hurtin’, we were lucky.
Remember if you have to flee a calamity, the 911 is a fine choice.

https://www.laurafries.com/

[Lyle O]

Wow, so glad you are safe. Hope your neighbors that were not so lucky can recover and rebuild. I cant imagine what the ordeal was like. Hang in there.

[wjdunham]

Yes, great to hear your place survived! Are you all able to go back into the area now? I know a few other folks who live off of Hwy 9 just north of town that were uncertain whether their homes were still there or not. (I'm just over the hill in San Jose)...

Bill

[ClickClickBoom]

Originally Posted by wjdunham

Yes, great to hear your place survived! Are you all able to go back into the area now? I know a few other folks who live off of Hwy 9 just north of town that were uncertain whether their homes were still there or not. (I'm just over the hill in San Jose)...

Bill

Shoot them this map:

https://www.santacruzcounty.us/FireRecovery/DamageAssessmentMap.aspx

It’s up to date as of this morning.
I expect this will get shuffled off to the overtime section a die a quiet ignominious death, because no one except the truly argumentative go there...

[wildthing]

Wow I didn't realize you were in Boulder Creek. You know one of my favorite roads is down 9 from Saratoga into Boulder Creek Road then up to Bear Creek Open Space Preserve.

Hope you stay well and safe!

(We packed too since the red evac order was a quarter mile from us, but the winds didn't change and now it's yellow... We are closer to the SCU fire. But since there were only two drivers in the hose, we were planning to take the van and the Cayenne, and leave the 911. )

[ClickClickBoom]

Originally Posted by wildthing

Wow I didn't realize you were in Boulder Creek. You know one of my favorite roads is down 9 from Saratoga into Boulder Creek Road then up to Bear Creek Open Space Preserve.

Hope you stay well and safe!

(We packed too since the red evac order was a quarter mile from us, but the winds didn't change and now it's yellow... We are closer to the SCU fire. But since there were only two drivers in the hose, we were planning to take the van and the Cayenne, and leave the 911. )

Cayenne could be replaced in 10 minutes, 911 not so much....

[70SATMan]

Was hoping you'd made it through. I have friends that have had to evac from both fires and I spent many days the past week clearing trees and cutting fire lines at my future in laws property (my eldest lives in one of the houses on the property). Luckily looks like it wasn't needed with Scotts Valley opening back up but, how was one to know.

My heart really goes out to those that have lost it all except their most precious possession and those that lost that.

[Bill Douglas]

How scary. I'm pleased you are safe.

[356911930]

Cloick-ckick, glaad to hear you have not suffered any major loss...good news! We have many friends in the area and luckily most are doing well.

Hope to meet up someday,

Rahl

[tirwin]

Very glad you are safe. Also glad your place survived.

I have friends who were very lucky to have been ok in the last fires. I think they had to evac at least 3 times. Fire is scary stuff. It moves faster than people realize.

I was recently in the area of Tyndall AFB. East of Tyndall was where the eye wall of Hurricane Matthew hit. The area is miles and miles of pine forrest. You can clearly see the track of the eye wall by looking at the direction of the felled trees.

The forrest service has been doing controlled burns because of the leftover debris. It is fascinating to watch. It is hard to comprehend the power of fire at that scale until you see it in person.

[rw229]

F. I can't imagine. Glad you're safe.

[eastbay]

Just checked the map, as long as Alice's is ok, all is good.

[wildthing]

Originally Posted by ClickClickBoom

Cayenne could be replaced in 10 minutes, 911 not so much....

This is a very valid point. I thought long and hard about it. Insurance will make me whole financially (or partially) but I doubt it will be easy to get another G50.

Note to self: leave the spoons and ammo, take the 911.

[ClickClickBoom]

Originally Posted by wildthing

This is a very valid point. I thought long and hard about it. Insurance will make me whole financially (or partially) but I doubt it will be easy to get another G50.

Note to self: leave the spoons and ammo, take the 911.

I loaded the 911 with guns, a sack full of cash, AmEx Platinum card and all my underwear. The rest could be re acquired with one of the above listed tools....
Lawyers, Guns and Money, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad. 2 are essential, one is a moving target trying to get one of the other 2.

[Walter_Middie]

We were camped for 3 days at Manresa Uplands State Park near Watsonville. They evacuated the campground the day after we left. We were very lucky to have left when we did. We still had to drive through smoke for several hours until we cleared the area. My daughter is still down there near San Jose in Menlo Park.

[T6andT]

Glad all worked out well, yes 911 would be my choice but tough to haul horses with it. I took 356 and 911 away just in case. I am in Woodside so we were on alert but lucky fire was contained before 35.

[fanaudical]

Glad you're safe. Scary stuff.

[Trackrash]

Glad to hear you are back home and safe. So far this year we only have had to put up with smoke.

Here I am last year all loaded up and evacuating.

[ClickClickBoom]

Still locked out. Some moron at the water district thought it was a good idea to lay 8 miles of HPDE water pipe exposed on the forest floor. There hasn’t been a significant fire in the area since 1947. Oh the irony, the next water board meeting is virtual, rough comment, poof you are gone. Any lawyers out there interested in a possible class action? They lost 4.5 million gallons out of a possible 6. The firefighters were using the water as suppression and for their safety, if the tanks went dry when it got chitty, bunch of guys coulda died. The level of stupidity is staggering. While federal elected positions are important, local will have more consequences if morons re on the board.

[ClickClickBoom]

Well,
The area has opened up, looks like a cross of the moon and Hiroshima:
The ridge behind the house ‘bout 75 yards up the hill.
Fire got to about 150ft away, from the house, lost 3 houses within 200 yards, extremely steep terrain.

This should cause the compulsive q-tip crowd to go into convulsions:


El Chup was pressed into service hauling 100+ gallons of fire retardant water mix, hauling jerry cans of gas and diesel. El Chup had to have an emergency rear wheelbearingectomy, did it yesterday under flashlight power. Got back on the Fat Cat and put out another 3 or 4 spot fires for good measure:
This was 60 gallons into the fray.