My friend's frightening fire story in the Mercury News

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_9344864

1:45 p.m.: Ian and Melena McClellend were among the mountain residents who lost their home on Maymens Flats Road.

Ian McClellend, an employee of Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale, saw the blaze first. "I got up at 5:15 to go to work. I looked out my bedroom window and the next ridge over I could see fire. I couldn't believe it. I stepped outside and the wind was blowing 40 to 50 knots."

The McClellends grabbed their pets and turned the horse into the meadow. While Melena fled, Ian stayed to try to fight the fire. "I tried to get the well pumping and an ember hit a tree next to me and went up in flames," he said. "There were flames along my leg, so I said it was time to go."

The couple lost a concrete house with metal roof that McClellend said burned from the inside out. They also lost a four-car log garage and a log barn on their 23-acre property. The couple did not have fire insurance because Ian McClellend said they couldn't buy it because the area is considered high risk.

They had a 300-foot clearance around the house, "but it wasn't nearly enough.

"Everything is gone. The house above me is gone. The house below me is gone."

their house is gone

but they are alive.....




:hug:
to you and your friends......

must be frightening.......
I could not imagine....

I am glad they are ok.......


lost

It had to be a close thing - the little road they live on is a dead end, only one way out. It would be very easy to get trapped in there.

That's just terrible, I'm so sorry. My future husband lost his home, job, and car in the Topanga Canyon fire back in 1992 or so. I know how awful it can be, and that fire in the Santa Cruz mountains is so terrible. I wish the winds would die down. We're over here in Sonoma County and the winds won't stop; they've been blowing for 3 days now.

That says "slide show of fire photos" - the first 9 photos are of my friend's place. The guy wandering through the rubble is him. :cry:

I lived there for 2 years, helped build that house. I feel so horrible right now.