Wildfire evacuees facing holidays away from home
LOS ANGELES — Ray and Curry Sawyer’s Christmas tree is up, still waiting for their grandkids to decorate it. The presents are hidden away in closets, waiting to be wrapped, the ingredients for gingerbread men are sitting in cupboards, and the kindling for the fireplace has been chopped.
A monster of a wildfire burning in Southern California froze the Sawyers’ plans for a big family Christmas and has forced the couple from their Santa Barbara home for nearly two weeks.
Even if their beloved home of five decades survives the next predicted onslaught of winds, the Sawyers are preparing for Christmas in yet another hotel.
“This is getting ridiculous,” said the 82-year-old Curry Sawyer from her hotel in Goleta, Calif., on Tuesday.
“My husband has the feeling, ‘Why aren’t they letting us back in?’ but they’ve got hot spots up there and if we get more Santa Ana winds, we’re going to be back to square one,” Sawyer said. “I’m not sure we’re out of the woods.”
The Sawyers are among thousands of frustrated evacuees who’ve been away from home for days or weeks, living out of hotels or evacuation shelters, or staying with friends or family. Some have no home to go back to while others are just hoping theirs survive.
The Sawyers were planning a big family Christmas with their sons, who each are married and have a daughter, and live in Los Angeles and Amherst, Massachusetts.
If their home doesn’t make it, or if a mandatory evacuation remains in place come Christmas, Sawyer said the family will make do in Los Angeles. Her son’s home can accommodate her other son’s family, but Sawyer and her husband would have to stay in a hotel.
“We’ll be more just trying to cramp ourselves into a small space,” she said. “But at least we’ll be together.”
As of Tuesday, 432 people were still staying at evacuation shelters run by the Red Cross, agency spokeswoman Georgia Duncan said.
The shelters are preparing to stay open for Christmas and many agencies are donating toys so that the children there have presents to open.