Wed., Oct. 24, 2007 - Wildfire Evacuation Center

Following fire coverage of the Ranch Fire in Fillmore and Piru, I was dispatched out to San Bernadino to provide coverage of the evacuation center housing all the residents who had fled a pair of wildfires burning in the mountains surrounding Lake Arrowhead.

Below: Val Morris, left, and her daughter Amie, 14, wait while an insurance agent processes their claim reques. Morris didn't know if her Lake Arrowhead home had survived the Grass Valley fire that has destroyed several homes and threatens hundreds.


Below: Three-year-old Kindra Groff, with a handkerchief over her face due to the smoky air, stands with her parents, Nathan and Stephanie, while they wait in line to talk with an insurance agent.


Below: Ten-year-old Amanda Sexton carries her hamster while her father, Dan, at left, carries two guinea pigs after the father and daughter fled their Crestline, Calif. home from an approaching wildfire and sought refuge at the Red Cross evacuation center.


Photos below: Insurance agents review homeowner claims with wildfire evacuees from the Grass Valley and Sideline fires in Lake Arrowhead at a mobile claims office at the Red Cross evacuation center.

Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2007 - Wildfires

As wildfires tore across Southern California, I was dispatched out to the Ranch Fire that was burning in northern Los Angeles County and into eastern Ventura County where it was threatening the communities of Piru and Fillmore. Even though it was burning toward these communities, the fire was still in unaccessible areas.

In town, I found a strike team of firefighters from Santa Clara County that were providing structure protection for a outlying neighborhood in Fillmore. All the firefighters were congregated on the grass of Jim and Linda Nunes' home where the husband and wife had been cooking a barbecue dinner for the firefighters.