Battle to protect Reagan Library
Perched on a hill overlooking Simi Valley and Moorpark, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library offers sweeping views. But that location has long made it vulnerable to wildfires.
On Wednesday, the fastmoving Easy fire had surrounded the library, which was closed to the public. Those in the library sheltered in place as helicopters dumped thousands of gallons of water on nearby flames and fire crews cut containment lines around the blaze.
The fire was being held back by an aggressive ground and aerial attack on the ridges beyond Simi’s modern residential estates.
Helicopters repeatedly dropped loads of water behind the library amid 60mph winds, turning the flames on the ridge 300 feet below into smoke. Amid wind gusts strong enough to knock a person off balance, two super-scooper planes dipped down behind the library before unleashing enough water to create a rainbow.
Every two minutes, a new chopper or plane swooped overhead, dipping down into the canyon behind the library.
“They are getting beat up good, those pilots,” JD Nees, a Navy reserve pilot, said of the helicopter pilots navigating 60-mph winds whipping across their paths.
Nees watched as the pilots made run after run at the flames before a hand crew appeared on the hill. “That’s a good sight to see,” he said, as two inmate crews began tamping out the smoldering soil.
As the fire swept down the ridge toward Roosevelt Court, an off-duty LAPD officer wearing a raid jacket began yelling, alerting residents that the fire was coming down the hill. Tensions heightened as the f lames became visible to homeowners.
Rory Kaplan has lived on Roosevelt since the homes were built there in 2001.
“I got the reverse 911 about 6:30 a.m.,” he said. “I pulled the cars out into the driveway, put the passports and bank documents in one and my musical instruments in the other car. I am ready to go.”
Simi Valley police began directing everyone via loudspeaker to leave the neighborhood behind the library. Kaplan joined the exodus.
Roads out of Simi Valley were packed as residents poured south toward Thousand Oaks, their cars and SUVs brimming with boxes packed with treasured objects.
The library, which is designed to withstand earthquakes and wildfires, has been threatened by fire before. Officials say they protect the facility, ensuring that the open space around the building is kept clear. Each year, the library brings in goats to eat vegetation around the buildings.
Opened in 1991, the library is home to a Marine One presidential helicopter, an Air Force One presidential aircraft, a piece of the Berlin Wall, a replica of Reagan’s White House Oval Office and a steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center after 9/11.
Two years after the library opened, the Reagan family threw a celebration there for firefighters who battled Southern California’s 1993 firestorms.
“Many years ago, we lost our old ranch in Malibu to fire,” the president’s daughter Maureen Reagan said at the time.
“When those winds start to blow, the same could happen to any one of us. We live in a place with unique terrain that’s continually touched by fire, and thank God we have unique and special men and women that are trained to stop those fires when they threaten people.”
The Easy fire, which broke out shortly after 6 a.m., has burned 1,300 acres threatened 6,500 homes.