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[RC] Fire victims...on the mend? - beth gloverHi; Please excuse the cross post. I wanted to share with everyone, the news about folks I know of, who have had fire damage. We went down to Ramona yesterday, and went to help my friend Lisa Keeley getting rid of debris from the fire. There was a good sized group of people there to help, the Shannons were there, there were other riders too. It was a real eye opener, because her neighbor had lived in a "tree house", very lush setting, (similar to my next door neighbor) and when the fire came through the canyon, it burnt that house to ashes and took Lisa's house and two other neighbors with it. Lisa's house is a gutted shell, there are a few things inside that survived, but not much. It has made me think about fire clearance and defensible space in another way. It also made me realize what a small world the horse world is, because so many of us riders know people all over the state, and these are friends of friends, and know people on ridecamp! There were a couple of guys there that were non-horsey pe ople and they wanted to wait for the bull dozers to come later. But we decided to pick up nails, cause bulldozers wouldn't get those. Before you know it, we had removed all the burnt fence stuff and nails to a big trash pile, installed some pipe corrals that were from the wrecked home next door (who are starting over from scratch, down to the slab) and made a temporary feed shed! It was a job well done, and a good start to Lisa's road ahead. Travis the endurance horse will be home this week. There was a NATRC meeting at the Brezina's on Saturday, and Lori Walls was there. She told them that on her neighborhood in El Cajon, there were originally 20 houses, but only 3 survived the fire, the 17 others burned. I also know that an old NATRC /Endurance friend in the high desert, Jan Martinez, has been helping a family in Devore. They have an Arab and a pony, and their house is burned down. Nothing left except the chimney. That was a sobering sight, the amount of land that was burned there in Ramona. There were miles of electric and phone lines laying on the ground by the road, and many many crews were hard at work (on a Sunday) stringing up wires to new poles. There were some houses that did not burn and it is a mystery how they escaped the flames, when they were certainly engulfed. A lot of horses were still in their pastures and corrals, and the fire had burned right up to them. My friend's house has no electricity, but it does have a smoke alarm that still keeps going, "beep beep". A day too late, eh? I do not know if the riders in El Cajon, Descanso, San Bernardino (Devore) , have set up any relief "clearinghouse" for fellow equestrians. I know that Alta Loma Riding club has an emergency group that helped a lot of people during the fire. ( they have a cool website too, that you can find on google) Perhaps if any of these local riding clubs are doing anything to help folks, they could post what they are doing, so their efforts are not duplicated, but resources are sent where they are most needed. I was sorry to hear that at least one ride, the NATRC Descanso ride, will not be held next year due to trail damage. I sure hope that they are able to get their trails back in the coming year. I wonder if I should put a smoke alarm in my barn. hmmm Beth Glover ( my kingdom for a bulldozer) Gift-shop online from the comfort of home at MSN Shopping! No crowds, free parking. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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