TRACKING Evacuee: ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do’
Richard Snelson got to see what’s left of his home for the first time since fleeing the Wall Fire last weekend.
His motorhome, parked on 5 acres, is destroyed. What’s left of what Snelson owned, he found out Wednesday, is his truck, a couple of motorcycles and an old RV he bought before
the fire.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do, to be honest,” Snelson said.
For the time being, he and his dog Smiley are staying in the RV at the Church of the Nazarene in Oroville, which has been serving as the evacuation center.
“His tail’s just now coming out from between his legs,” Snelson said of his four-legged companion.
Snelson, retired, is on a fixed income and had gone grocery shopping just before the fire ripped through his neighborhood. All of that food is gone, along with generators and most of his solar panels.
“It would cost at least $750 to move back in, and that’s moving into a pile of ashes,” Snelson said. “I’ve probably got $110 to my name, and I’m afraid to spend a penny of it.”
According to CalFire, the Wall Fire – which started at Chinese Wall Road, 5 miles north of Bangor – burned 6,033 acres and was 70 percent contained as of Wednesday night. CalFire said 41 homes were destroyed and another three damaged. Fifty-seven other structures were either damaged or destroyed.
All of the evacuation orders were reduced to warnings Wednesday.
CalFire spokespersons said much of the work now is cleanup: keeping an eye on hot spots and clearing roadways and other hazards.
Many of Snelson’s neighbors have also lost their homes, except for Franz Longsworth. His home is intact, and he has yet to head up the road from the evacuation center at the church.
Longsworth said when the roads open up, he will go home to see if anything is damaged and see if his well is working.
“When I came here, I cried internally because of the love I received from people. There are no words,” Longsworth said. “It’s not luck; it’s a miracle.”
He said he and other neighbors had watched the flames grow nearer until they were almost surrounded. He said a fire burned in the same vicinity two years earlier, though this one was more unexpected.
“The fire came too fast, too quickly,” he said.
And while Longsworth and his wife were one family who received good news, he said he hopes others will spend this time looking out for one another.
“We must rebuild as a community and share resources,” Longsworth said. “We need each other.”
Philip Macy also evacuated on Saturday, leaving only when firefighters knocked on his door.
“My neighbors say it’s still standing,” Macy said of his home.
The situation resembles one back in 1999, when Macy’s entire home was burnt in a fire in the same area. He never rebuilt and has been living in a motorhome on the same 10 acres.
“The property is going to be there no matter what,” Macy said.
Still, he grabbed his dog, Spirit, some food and fled to the evacua-
tion center. He said he forgot to grab more clothes and said the Red Cross has been a big help.