Lahaina Fire

Thousands of miles away, it seems too familiar. We can remember the CZU Fire three years ago. The first flash of lightning occurred at a minute prior to midnight on August 15. The fire started soon afterward. Initially, for most of us, it did not seem to be much of a threat. It was not moving fast, and was still quite a distance from populous areas. Two days later, a change in the weather accelerated the fire into several Communities, where it burned more than nine hundred homes on more than eighty-five thousand acres.

The Lahaina Fire is much worse. Although it burned a relatively small area, it burned almost twice as many homes and most of Lahaina so far. Worst of all, it has killed at least eighty people. By the time it is over, and its damages are calculated, it may have killed more than the Camp Fire, which killed eighty five people in 2018, and is the deadliest wildfire in the history of California. (The Great Earthquake and Fire of San Francisco in 1906 killed more than three thousand people, but is not classified as a wildfire.) The Lahaina Fire is already the deadliest natural disaster in the history of Hawaii.

From experience, we know that the Community there will help victims recover afterward. That is what Community does. It is certainly what the Community here did in response to the CZU Fire three years ago. It will not be easy, and will take a long time, but a Community can accomplish so much more and do so much more efficiently than any individual. Hopefully, those who have so suddenly become houseless will not be houseless for long. Hopefully, the Community of Lahaina and all associated Communities recover as efficiently as the Community here is recovering.

Fire On The Mountain

Burned leaves fell from the sky a mile and a half from the CZU Lightning Complex Fire.

Other obligations have prevented me from writing here at a time when there is so much to write about. Even now, I must be brief. I do not yet know when I will be able to resume writing weekly as did I prior to about a month ago.

Coronavirus, or whatever it is known as, necessitated the closure of the Conference Center where I work a few days weekly. The facilities are maintained, but, until recently, unused. Most of us who work there needed to find employment elsewhere. It has been financially difficult for many of us, as well as countless others all over the World.

Then, about a month ago, the entire region was evacuated ahead of the migration of the CZU Lightning Complex Fire. Many in the region lost their homes to the Fire, and essentially became homeless. The Community has been as generous and accommodating as it has always been.

As firefighters arrived from so many distant regions, some were accommodated in the otherwise unused lodges of the Conference Center. It was a practical arrangement. They had use for such lodging. Such lodging just happened to be vacant because of the coronavirus.

As firefighters started to vacate the Conference Center and return home, residents of the region also started to return home after evacuation. Some of those who had no homes to return to procured temporary homes from the otherwise unused cabins of the Conference Center. Again, it is a practical arrangement. They had use for cabins that just happen to be vacant.

Also, volunteers who came to the region to assist those who lost their homes as a result of the Fire now reside in some of the lodges that were formerly occupied by the firefighters.

It is unfortunate that there are not sufficient accommodations at the Conference Center for everyone who lost their homes. So much about the situation is unfortunate. The Community will do what it can. Somehow, it always does.

CZU Lightning Complex Fires

Boulder Creek was evacuated yesterday because of the advancing CZU Lightning Complex Fires that were started just after midnight on August 16. Brookdale and Ben Lomond were evacuated later. Evacuation of Felton began early this morning, less than a day after some of those evacuated from the other Communities had set up camp around town.

Ash and burned leaves had been falling from the sky in several regions, particularly between Los Gatos and Scott’s Valley. Smoke is unusually thick, and had been heavier in the Santa Clara Valley than forest fire smoke had ever been in history.

More information can be found online. However, accurate and practical information is scarce. Presently, some ‘updated’ maps show that the fires are confined to the same few acres near the coast. Others show three larger but still confined fires. The current extent of the fires or combined fire is unknown.

This is an unsettling situation to say the least. These fires have already burned several homes, and will likely burn more, leaving several or many people homeless.