Ranger Al Updates

The latest updates are now found at www.firerecovery.com

Two structures were damaged by fires this morning in the Job's Peak area of Cedar Pines Park today.  I'm not sure all the details on this fire at this point but 8 fire crews were sent in but 4 were called back before they arrived at the fire, so the fires must have been controlled.  More info a little later.  I will update you on everything a little later tonight. 

Thanks for being patient.  T-shirts are available now.  I will have a form up to order them via the website later tonight.  Or, if you happen to see Ranger Al or me on the mountain.  We will have them available.

Monday-Friday 9am-7pm
Saturday- 9am-4pm
Closed Sunday

BTW, on an unrelated topic.  I have received multiple informative emails from one or two people that I have not been successful at replying to because or their email spam software or possibly their email box being too full.  I want these people to know that I have received and do appreciate the information they send but I get an error message back every time I try to reply to them.  Thank you for continuing to send info.  I'm sure you know who you are.  :)
 

I'll post more info on this event when I know more.

Photo of home on Valley View Rd in Crestline by John T McIntosh
 

Help victims of the fire by donating your time or money to the Mountain Friends and Neighbor's Event this weekend.
 

I have to go up the mountain today for an event.  I will update you when I get back.  I'd like to thank everyone who has been sending me pictures and information.  Without you this page wouldn't exist.

Helicopters Loading Up at Rim High School

I've been adding pictures and news stories to the page today.  Browse through the site and e-mail me if you would like to submit your own pictures or articles.
 

If you read any good fire or recovery related articles, please send me a link to it so I can post it on our News Page for others to read.  If you would like to write your own articles, please send me one and I'll set you up as a writer on the News Page.
 

Just to give you an update on Website Stats-  We have had over 45,000 unique visitors to the site with over 7,000,000 Server hits.  Just yesterday we got over 75,000 page views.  So I would guess that a lot of people are interested in helping with FireRocovery.  Please visit our event pages and make arrangements to attend.

This car near hook creek wasn't burned but rather got too hot and melted.

The San Bernardino County Health Department still has disposal bins for rotten food disposal in the following areas:

·         Mountain Disposal Yard, 988 Old Waterman Canyon Rd., Crestline

·         Valley of Enchantment Elementary School, 22836 Fir Lane, Valley of Enchantment

·         Lake Gregory Regional Park south shore parking lot on San Moritz Drive at Lake Gregory Drive

·         Lake Gregory Elementary School, 24689 San Moritz, Lake Gregory

·         Crestline Chamber of Commerce, 24385 Lake Drive, east of Lake Gregory Drive

·         Valero gas station in Rim Forest

·         Jensons Blue Jay Market parking lot

·         Lake Arrowhead Village 1: upper parking lot

·         Lake Arrowhead Village 2: lower parking lot

·         Lake Arrowhead Community Hospital

·         Arrowbear Lake on Arrowbear Drive

·         Highway 18 in Running Springs in front of Calvary Chapel

Running Springs Sheriff’s Department Office on Hunsaker Drive

·         Hoffman Elementary School, Running Springs School Road

San Bernardino and Lake Arrowhead Sign Burned on the Crestline Bridge.
 

Highway 18 was open today from Cliffhanger East up past Santa's Village.  Santa's Village is now Edison's Central Control Center.

Santa's Village as the Mobile Command Center for Edison

I'll post some pictures first thing in the morning.

I thought I'd share a song that was sent to me by Betsy Cowan:

(To the tune of "Smokey the Bear")

Thanks, Ranger Al

With a Ranger’s heart and GPS and clipboard on his knees,
You can't see him takin’ backroads checkin’ addresses and trees.
But your heart rests so much easier, just knowin’ that he’s there
He’s Ranger Al, the mountain’s pal. We love you ‘cause you care.

Thanks, Ranger Al, You are the best
Posting all the updates, yes, you put our fears to rest.
We will not forget you and what you did each day.
You're forever in our gratitude - three cheers: hip, hip, hooray!

He checked the Old Fire nightly, before he went to sleep
He prayed for God to save our homes, our way of life to keep.
And the Man Upstairs was listening because his heart was pure.
Yes, we are back in action and we know we will endure!

Thanks, Ranger Al, You are the best
Posting all the updates, yes you put our fears to rest.
We will not forget you and what you did each day.
You're forever in our gratitude - three cheers: hip, hip, hooray!

So let's not forget the lessons that we learned these past few days.
And let's not let all the memories just fade into the haze.
Ranger Al has showed us how to live, to care for neighbors, too.
And love one another, it's the right thing to do!

Thanks, Ranger Al, You are the best.
Posting all the updates, yes you put our fears to rest.
We will not forget you and what you did each day.
You're forever in our gratitude - three cheers: hip, hip, hooray!

 

Good Morning.  I'm going up the mountain again today.  Anyone who has information on fundraisers or other events on the mountain, please email me at dacy@firerecovery.com and I will post the information.

Current Stats

Acre's- 91,281
Containment- 93%
Cost- $35,924,297
Fatalities- 6
Injuries- 6
Buildings Damaged- 35
Homes Destroyed- 993
Business Destroyed- 10
Personnel- 912
 

By the way, for a report on roads.  I traveled up Highway 18 today to Crestline.  They have long term "cones" blocking the outside lanes so there is only one lane going each way.  Up near the High School, they were putting in new guard rails today.

Mailboxes near homes in Waterman Canyon
 

I asked someone on a date tonight.  I hope she remembers me.  :)  I will be spending time with my wife tonight.  I will be back here in the morning.  Thank you for supporting our new events we have scheduled.

I may visit the mountain tomorrow.  I hope they let me up.

Here's another picture from E4485 and Barry Rudolf

Jupiter Road

Willow Road - Sky Forest.
 

"Just to say THANK YOU for all your effort and sleeplessness during and now after the fire. We came home to our house in Rim Forest still standing. The fire burned up to the foundation of our home. We opened the screen door and found a note that read "Welcome Home! Your house was saved courtesy of the Santa Rosa fire department!!! WOW!!"   -The Lanes

If anyone knows a Silk-screening shop that will help donate their time to produce Charity T-shirts / Hats, please let me know.  dacy@firerecovery.com
 

San Bernardino Mountains- October 2003
 

No News on Highway 18 yet.  I will let you know
 

They still have a lot of animals at the San Bernardino County Fairgrounds in Victorville.  Contact (530)622-9313 

Thanks to Barry Rudolph for these Pictures and Stories.

The crews from Engines 4485 and Engine 4471 after the Cliffhanger Restaurant save.
 

Once we got our engines set up and in position, we lost no houses to the fire. Those that burned in our area were already involved upon our arrival. In one case on Skyland Drive, we (E4475) made a stop on a partially involved structure with assistance from E-91 from San Bernardino County Fire Department.
 

Also, if you consider yourself knowledgeable on any subject that would help the the victims, please contact me.  Soliciting Business for yourself or for others as an expert is not allowed.

Burned home in Skyland Area.  Photo by John T McIntosh
 

Done for the night.  Going home.
 

Another thing-  My wife and kids think I have abandoned them.  I set up an email address so you can tell them thank you for me.  I call them all the time and thank them for understanding that I've been busy this week, but maybe it'll be a nice surprise for a special thank you to come in from one of you.  Please don't expect a response, my wife has a full time job (raising my 3 kids) and doesn't have time to reply to 2500 people like I have this week.  The address is amy-fire@fireupdate.com

Just a repeat of below- The whole mountain is open to residents now including Cedar Glen.
 

 
Photo by John T McIntosh
 

Running Springs and areas around (Arrowbear, GVL) can get to their homes by way of Big Bear.

Red Cross and Salvation Army has moved from the Airport to the Orange Show Fairgrounds.  The Temporary Post office is still at the Airport.  Some Post Offices in the Mountains are already open.  Crestline being one of them.

I am still in need of some people to help organize events.  I've got lots of volunteers but not as many people willing to really put some time into it and help organize.  Email me if you can.

By the way, Ranger Al is down the mountain right now.  Can you believe it.  He's up there when everyone's down the mountain,  Now everyone goes up and he comes down!  What a nut.  Is he afraid of everyone or something?  lol, actually he's taken some elderly people down to the hospital.   He'll be back up soon.

Special thanks to the many firefighters who risked their lives to save many homes like this one.

I like to read and I'm sure others do to about your returns home.  Post them in the RIMhigh.com forums, so we can hear about your experiences.
 

Photo by John T. McIntosh

If you haven't checked this out yet, please check it out.

THE LIST IS HERE!

I have to leave really quick to go get my buddy from the airport.  I feel so bad about it.  I think this is the first time in a week that I'm leaving my computer (other then at night).  Hmmm.  I guess I didn't leave it last night. :(  I promise I'll be back.  It's only 20 minutes away so it'll be less then an hour and I'll be back informing you of the latest.  And remember to definitely check back tonight for my burn report updates.  -I'm thinking between 7-9pm or so.
 

Here's another Web cam of the Crestline area
 

For all of you volunteers.  I will be contacting you either tonight or tomorrow morning.  If you are able to start tomorrow with some stuff to do, that would be great.  More info to come.

Did you vote yet?  Remember today is Election day.  Go Vote!!!  Call 1-800-881-8683 for more info.
 

Remember that today is Election day.  Mountain voters can vote at 777 East Rialto or at the Norton Evacuation center.  Call these numbers for more info  800-881-8683  387-8300

There's no snow or anything on Hwy 138 up the backside to Crestline.  Clouds are gently rolling in.  Might rain tomorrow.
 

We have had contact with people spread over the mountain, some with power and others without.

Some homes in Valley of Enchantment, Top Town Crestline, Lake Gregory, Twin Peaks, and the Lower homes in Cedar Pines Park have reported power on.  I'm getting lots of emails from the Running Springs and Lake Arrowhead areas about power still being out. 

Ron Ferree, the Southern California Edison director of grid operations said, "Our crews will be replacing everything: poles, wire, cable, transformers, switches, circuit breakers.  They’ll be doing this in areas with limited access though rough terrain while working in very cold conditions.  At the same time, they’ll need to watch out for smoldering trees, which could split and fall on them or our equipment."

"We’ll work as quickly as we can to get them energized,” said Ferree.  “We appreciate their patience while we perform a difficult task under trying conditions.”
 

Good Morning.

Current Stats

Acre's- 91,281
Containment- 93%
Cost- $28,900,000
Deaths- 6
Injuries- 6
Buildings Damaged- 35
Homes Destroyed- 993
Business Destroyed- 10
Personnel- 2,998

As I went through your hundreds of emails yesterday and saw your reaction to my Sunday 9pm post I was very happy to see how many people were willing to help out in different ways for the recovery.  There were tons of ideas and obvious experience in what I was reading.  I thought of this large group of neighbors so willing to help each other out.  Then I thought of all the different charitable organizations out there that help out as well.  But there's just something about neighbors helping neighbors.  So I decided to change my thinking a bit and start thinking about Recovery instead of just Updates on Fires.  After all, the fires are almost gone.  I think we can make a huge difference in this recovery process and maybe even in this world if we get back to the neighbor help neighbor ideals.

There are plenty of organizations out there that accept donations and distribute those donations. I don't want to mess with having to deal with that sort of thing.  Let's let the experts in money handling take care of that.  But we can decide what our neighbors need and then aim our donations accordingly to those existing charities.  We have over 20,000 unique visitors regularly to this site.  Let's all make a huge difference and act in this time to help our neighbors along side of those organizations that are set up for that type of thing.  Let's not sit back and do nothing while others do the work.  I want to get my shoes dirty. 

I created a new website last night. My last website (and my first real website) lasted a wild wild week, but it's time to move on.  Please provide ideas and suggestions these are just some of my ideas.  It's a lot work but it's worth it.  Let's go to Fire Recovery Mode.

Photo by Mike Bates

Everyone have a good night.  I'll have some stuff for you in the morning.
 

If you have pictures that you would like to share, please send them to me and I'll try to find somewhere to share them.

I'm also looking for some individuals to donate some time and help me write articles on the clean up effort. If you are serious in wanting to spend time doing this, contact me. 
 

Burned- Burnt mill road, north of Mojave River Road- 1 small cabin burned - south, all ok

Weather in Crestline- Heavy Fog, Light drizzle,  36° F

Current Stats

Acre's- 91,281
Containment- 93%
Cost- $28,900,000
Deaths- 6
Injuries- 6
Buildings Damaged- 35
Homes Destroyed- 993
Business Destroyed- 10
Personnel- 2,998

Growth potential of the fire is very low

The Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman visited the Command Post today.
 

Last Monday, The fires were very active and burning everywhere it seems.  Evacuations had been going on for a while already.  My dad, who's always been a great example of service to others had begun his job of keeping people informed of the fires.  He kept hundreds of friends and family informed by phone.  The problem, I wanted to talk to him and the phone was busy all day long!  So I thought, why don't we set up a system where instead of him having to repeat himself to everyone he knows, he informs one person and that person distributes it.  I thought it was a brilliant innovative idea until I realized that that concept dated back to the stone age.  But, back on point, later that evening I decided to start a webpage to get that information out to family and friends.  Thus I registered the name FIREupdate.com.

I never imagined that one decision would effect so many people.  Here are some stats for the last week:

Server Hits- 5,568,790
Server changes to handle the load- 4
Emails Received and returned- 2,118
Emails Received Yet to be Returned- 183
Minutes used on my cell phone- 2,218
Interviews with Newspapers- 6
Interviews with Magazines- 2
Interviews with Radio Stations- 4
Anonymous pizzas delivered to me- 1 (I still have no idea how they knew where I was)
Times I thought I should get into the Media business- 2
Times I kicked myself for thinking that- 2
Emails I received saying that I stink at being a reporter- 15
Times I thought I should get into the Web design business- 3
Emails I received from someone who thought I was the fire chief- 3
Friends I didn't know I had- 22,312  (unique visitors to the site)
Sleep- Sleep?  What's that?

Thank you everyone for a really good week!

 

Remember, we evacuated the entire mountain with absolutely no accidents or injuries.  Let's try to do the same thing in going back.  Drive Safely.
 

Expect the power to be out.  Although in Some areas of Crestline and VOE I have reports that power is on.  Job's Peak area has no power.  Again expect power to be off.  It is very foggy and cold.  You may want to wait until it is daylight. 

Those of you who find your home still standing when you get there, think of the others who aren't so lucky.  I am going to have some fundraising information up on the site later tonight.  Let's make a difference.
 

Mandatory Evacuations- Cedar Glen, East of 173, North of Hook Creek Road is still closed.

Voluntary Evacuations- Waterman Canyon, Lake Gregory, Crestline, Valley of Enchantment, Cedar Pines Park, Crest Forest, Lake Arrowhead, Running Springs, Green Valley Lake, Arrowbear, Twin Peaks, Rim Forest, Blue Jay and surrounding areas.  Passes needed in these areas.

Open to the public- Big Bear Lake, Big Bear City, Fawnskin, Moonridge, Woodlands, Angelus Oaks, Forest Falls.

Ranger Al standing with Malt Shop owners Bob and Peggy Magurean, their daughter Tammy Ramsey and grandchildren David and Patrick.  The malt shop will be open later this week.

This includes:  Lake Arrowhead, Running Springs, Twin peaks, Rim Forest, Blue Jay and surrounding areas.

You need to still have a pass.  Get it from any evacuations center.

Highways 18 and 330 down to the San Bernardino area are still closed.

It is very cold.  Actively snowing in some areas and very foggy in others.
 

Contacting the LA TIMES to thank them would be appreciated.  At this time of day, we wont be able to get too much done before dark but we will try, we have a ton of addresses to check. 

Another note- This is only for today.  He will not be able to get trough again.  Any other members of the press who want to hang out with Ranger Al for the day tomorrow can contact me.  He will give you the story of his life if you get him through the road blocks.

The owners of the ever so famous malt shop in Cedar Glen say they will be ready to open as early as Thursday.
 

I'm getting an unusually large amount of email today.  I might not be able to get back to everyone but I will try.  Don't think I'm rude if I just answer with a quick yes or no or another brief answer.  I'll chit chat with you all another time.  Well......  I don't know about you all.  Over 25,000 unique visitors so far.  That would be quite a feat!

Putting a brief summary in the subject line of your email would help me organize a bit too.
 

Ranger Al has teamed up with Geoffrey Mohan of the Los Angeles Times and is attempting to get into burn areas.  We will keep you informed.
 

Teachers should contact their administrative staff leader.  Contact numbers on the school website at http://www.rimsd.k12.ca.us/

All staff meeting for teachers, counselors, and other staff at Rim High November 12-14 at 8am.

District Administration Staff met today and will meet again on Wed and Friday this week planning the openings including new bus routes for burn areas.  Watch here for more info.

SAT's will be rescheduled.  More information coming.

Elections will still be held on Tuesday.  Some of the Evacuation centers will be set up as voting areas.  Other areas will be posted here soon. School Board, Park and Recreation, Crest forest Fire District and Community college district items are some of the items on the ballet.
 

Remember, you need to get a mountain area pass from a local evacuation center in order to enter the mountain area.  Highway 18 is closed, you must go up Highway 138 to get to the Crestline Area.

Mandatory Evacuations- Lake Arrowhead, Running Springs, Green Valley Lake, Arrowbear, Twin Peaks, Rim Forest, Blue Jay and surrounding areas.

Voluntary Evacuations- Waterman Canyon, Lake Gregory and Parts of Crestline, (West of 189 at North Road extending along Highway 189 to Highway 18 at Lake Gregory Dr.) Valley of Enchantment, Cedar Pines Park and the Crest Forest Area.   Passes needed in these areas.

Expected to be lowered to Voluntary soon-  Twin Peaks, Rim Forest & Blue Jay

Open to the public- Big Bear Lake, Big Bear City, Fawnskin, Moonridge, Woodlands, Angelus Oaks, Forest Falls.
 

Edison Reports that they still have 24,000 customers in the Crestline/Lake Arrowhead area still without electricity.  They have Damage Assessment teams driving around checking the whole network for downed poles or trees that would cause hazardous conditions.  They figure it will take at least another couple days to start the process of returning power to everyone.  They also say that it could be well over a week before power is restored to the whole network.

Bear Valley Electric in Big Bear had no fire related problems.  Everyone should have power.
 

Current Stats

Acre's- 91,281
Containment- 83%
Cost- $24,800,000
Deaths- 4
Buildings Damages
Homes Destroyed- 976
Business Destroyed- 10
Personnel- 4133

Homes was changed from 850 to 976 not because of newly burned homes but rather a re-assessment of the homes that were previously burned.  This according to Bernie Pineda, Fire Information Officer from the Joint Information Center.