All over the news you see stories about how houses and whole areas have been saved by tough locals fighting for their neighbors. Not to be denied, animals received the same treatment during evacuations and still do today. Our local Santa Cruz County Horseman’s Association (SCCHA) members have done an amazing job on multiple levels.

As we near our 8th month of social distancing, community members are getting more creative and motivated to diminish their feelings of isolation.  The Scotts Valley Senior Life Association (SVSLA) has been concerned for the mental health of its members since the pandemic started, but particularly as it drags on.  To combat this separation, the SVSLA has begun weekly Zoom workshops, many featuring community speakers, to check in with their seniors.  Vice President George Haas and President Dave Hodgin have spruced up their Monday afternoon with presentations from Ross Eric Gibson, noted Santa Cruz historian, Danny Reber, Executive Director, SV Chamber of Commerce, Greg Pepping, Executive Director of the Coastal Watershed Council, and Eden Israel, “Sing Along with Eden.”

The big fire of September 1904 came down from Ben Lomond mountain and crossed the county road, sweeping through the Newell Creek forest and Quail Hollow.  On the banks of what was then known as Lumbago Creek, George Fetherston had erected a fine house, where he and his wife Florence were raising two young children—William and Florence.             The San Francisco Chronicle told the rest of the story. “Trackmen on the Narrow Gauge say that for two miles on the Zayante the fire has crossed the track and the train passed between flames that are licking up the forests, farms, and fences….George Featherstone on Lumbago creek lost his home and a quantity of wood, worth $1000.”            The Fetherstons relocated to Felton where they prospered.  The elder Florence took charge of a boarding house; and George went into the liquor business.  In 1914 the couple bought and renovated the old Creamer hotel.  It soon became a favorite destination for movie companies on location in the San Lorenzo Valley.  Famous stars raved about Mrs. Fetherston’s pies and, in all likelihood, enjoyed her husband’s extensive stock of whiskey and wine.  The early years of Prohibition were very good ones for the Fetherstons.  Already the owner of most of Felton’s small downtown, George purchased 700 acres at its undeveloped south end and divided it into suburban lots and, in 1924 he purchased all the stock of the local water company.            Meanwhile, George and his son, William, were active participants in local fire fights.  In 1923, after accumulating years of experience with county fire crews, the elder Fetherson served as one of the three commissioners of the newly-formed San Lorenzo Valley Fire District.  In September of that year, a dangerous blaze sprang up half a mile from Felton.  As reported by the Santa Cruz News: “Deputy Fire Warden Geo. Fetherston upon being notified of the fire lost no time in organizing a force of men who went to the scene of the fire.  With no wind blowing the flames were kept from spreading by back firing.”             William Fetherston followed in his father’s footsteps.  He was among the crew leaders in 1930 when a blaze near China Grade threatened Big Basin.  The local volunteers had a new ally in that fight—rangers from the California Department of Forestry, who appeared on the scene with a new fire truck.  The state’s agents had been on the scene since 1926 but had been hampered by a lack of equipment and facilities.  What tools the local ranger had on hand were stored in George Fetherston’s barn in Felton.             As luck would have it, better equipment was available.   After a raid on a still, the county sheriff had confiscated a 1929 Chevrolet pick up, which he turned over to local fire fighters, who converted it into a pumper truck.  The new machine was tested when a brush fire swept through fields near the town of Swanton. Thirty men under the direction of Deputy Warden William Fetherston controlled the blaze before dawn, “assisted materially” by their new Chevrolet truck.”            A new state ranger took charge of the Santa Cruz County district in June 1934.  Charles Wilcher brought word that the Forestry Department intended to build a permanent fire suppression station in the area if it could obtain two acres of suitable land. According to the Santa Cruz News: “ Local leaders saw the advantages of having it in Felton and offered land.  George Fetherston had two choice acres near the road and reduced the price to $2000.  His only stipulation was that a local fire department be formed to raise the money.  He didn’t care how long it took.”            In December 1935, the Felton Fire Department was formally organized.  Although William Fetherston presided over the meeting, Edward Fox, a former San Francisco fireman served as the group’s first president.  The group spent the next two years raising money to pay off their $2000 mortgage.  Meanwhile, the new home of the Fire Suppression Unit took shape.  “The ranger headquarters,” observed the Sentinel, “consists of a private dwelling for the state ranger, barracks that will house twenty men and a large garage that houses the equipment of the station.”  Most of the necessary labor was provided New Deal agencies—especially the WPA and CCC.             In January 1938, the Felton Fire Department mobilized for action.  The Santa Cruz papers were pleased to learn that “Bill Fetherston, long recognized as one of the most aggressive and expert fire prevention authorities in the Santa Cruz mountain area, was last night elected chief.”            Chief Fetherston was authorized to select a dozen volunteers, who would learn to operate the Department of Forestry equipment.  Frequent drills and exercises were planned.  The goal of the local organization was to provide better protection for the town and its residents, including the new homes and summer resorts being built at a rapid pace in the neighborhood.            The Department of Forestry was equipped to fight brush, grass, and forest fires.  Fetherston and a committee spent several months deciding what the type of paraphernalia they should buy to enable the use of the state truck to fight structural blazes.                         In January 1938, the Felton Fire Department mobilized for action.  The Santa Cruz papers were pleased to learn that “Bill Fetherston, long recognized as one of the most aggressive and expert fire prevention authorities in the Santa Cruz mountain area, was last night elected chief.”            Chief Fetherston was authorized to select a dozen volunteers, who would learn to operate the Department of Forestry equipment.  Frequent drills and exercises were planned.  The goal of the local organization was to provide better protection for the town and its residents, including the new homes and summer resorts being built at a rapid pace in the neighborhood.  The Department of Forestry was equipped to fight brush, grass, and forest fires.  Fetherston and a committee spent several months deciding what the type of paraphernalia they should buy to enable the use of the state truck to fight house and commercial fires.  Their most prominent purchase was a three-section ladder, which, firemen agreed, “could be used both for structural fires and for decoration the Christmas tree the Firemen and Felton Community club put up annually.             Fetherston’s crew faced a dramatic challenge in May 1946, when the two-story wooden building housing Costella’s Lounge burst into flames one morning.  Called to duty by the department’s siren, the Felton volunteers raced to the scene.  Although the Costella building and two small adjacent structures were lost, the fire fighters rescued Mrs. Costella from the upper floor, then managed to contain the blaze, saving Roy’s Market and the Belardi building on the corner.            Their attention caught, Felton voters overwhelmingly approved the formation of the Felton Fire district in the next election.  Each property owner in the district would be assessed 43 cents per $100 assessed value.  Assured of funding, the fire department could now purchase a $10,000 fire engine, install fire hydrants and, at a future date, to construct their own fire house “in a central place in Felton.”

While staying at a friend’s house during the evacuation I was able to stroll through her garden. She’s also a landscape designer and her garden is as beautiful as you’d imagine. She’s addicted to plants and keeps adding to her megs collection on a regular basis. Among the blooming perennials I came across were some of my person favorites. All three are wonderful low water, wildlife and pollinator friendly plants. The first plant that caught my eye was an epilobium ‘Everett’s Choice’. The name Epilobium is considered current but this group of sub-shrubs used to be called Zauschneria and are so different from the other epilobiums like Fireweed that many California native plant enthusiasts and even the experts often still refer to them as Zauschneria. This low-growing vigorous ground-hugging shrub remains under 6 inches tall by up to 4 to 5 feet wide with fuzzy gray-green leaves that are covered with long whitish hairs. Vivid red-orange tubular flowers are produced in profusion in the late summer into fall. It does best in full sun but will tolerate some shade. Quite drought tolerant but remains a fuller and more attractive plant with an occasional summer watering. It likes well-drained soil best but will do OK in heavier soils if not over watered. California fuchsia are deer resistant and attractive to hummingbirds.  The second plant that caught my eye is also a hummingbird magnet. Kniphofia, also called Red Hot Poker blooms spring into summer with torch-like clusters that open from the bottom up. The selection at my friend’s garden was probably Echo Mango. Whether the cultivar blooms with red, yellow, orange or mango colored flowers this perennial grows to about 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide in full sun. It is evergreen and requires little summer water. Deer don’t like this plant either so that’s a plus and it’s hardy to below 15 degrees. Many of you already grow sedum spectabile ‘Autumn Joy’. A succulent perennial to 1-2 feet tall it has wide cabbage-like rosettes of pale blue-green leaves and rich, dark pink flowers that put on a spectacular show above foliage in summer and fall. Plant in sun in a dry well-drained soil and water however much or little you want. The foliage dies back in the winter but is root hardy to below -30 degrees. This group of sedum was given the prestigious Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit in 1993. Beautiful in the rock garden, perennial garden or spotted into a natural meadow setting it attracts bees and butterflies and is deer resistant. The seed heads can be left for winter interest as well as a food source for birds but stems should be removed prior to the new buds opening in February.  Any one of these plants would be a lovely addition to your garden if you don’t already grow them.   

I got off the ferry at Friday Harbor on San Juan Island with my sister back in 2014. It was the day before 9/11 and we were visiting a family friend who used to live across the street from us. The next morning, we walked to the downtown area and found ourselves immersed in a memorial parade commemorating the 3rd anniversary of that terrible day - 9/11/2001.  We certainly didn’t expect to see a full-on memorial parade complete with marching band, bagpiper, banners, American flags and finally taps being played mournfully by a lone bugler. We had tears in our eyes. A couple weeks ago I came across the digital photos and videos I captured of that moving day. I don’t have them now as the original CD was burned in the fire. I will always have that day’s experience captured in my mind, though. Later that day my sister and I visited Pelindaba Lavender Farm. Seemed fitting to walk among soothing lavender fields. Spread over 25 acres with lake and Olympic Mountain views it is lovely. The fragrance from the oil of the lavender plant is believed to help promote calmness and wellness, reduce stress and anxiety - a good thing on a sad day.  For years when my sister was still here, we visited many islands in Puget sound touring destination nurseries and public gardens. Roche Harbor is a picturesque sheltered harbor on the northwest side of San Juan Island and this was our next stop on 9/11. This harbor is world all its own. Exploring the historic Hotel de Haro we walked among the blooming perennial beds. It was drizzling by then making the colors of the flowers pop even brighter. So many beautiful perennials - roses, anemone, heliotrope, tibouchina intertwined with coleus and lime sweet potato vine. Lovely. Even the Roche Harbor Lime and Cement Co. which dates back to the 1880’s and is now a tourist destination is landscaped beautifully. All in all, that day on September 11, 2004 will always be etched in my memory. It was a day to remember.    

Not all heroes wear capes—some wear heavy coats and boots and carry heavy fire hoses. Others wear combat gear and carry shovels and axes and some even drive ambulances, sheriffs vehicles and police cars. These are the heroes of the San Lorenzo Valley who have been working tirelessly to save our homes, our garages, our state parks and our university. They have watered our plants, fended off looters and protected the community we call home. Our hearts go out to those who have lost their homes..

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I have never felt closer to my San Lorenzo Valley community than I do now, because of the fire. Our home, neighborhood, and most of our town of Ben Lomond were spared from the fire thanks to our Ben Lomond Volunteer Fire Department and the thousands of other firefighters and citizens. Since the day we evacuated and ever since returning home, I have been glued to several FaceBook groups in our valley. We are strangers really, but united in this tragedy. I welcome those home who have a home, I get anxious with those who are not yet able to return home, and I cry with those who have lost their homes.

Most of us were sound asleep. A raucous, powerful gust of wind followed by a roaring clap of thunder woke the San Lorenzo Valley in the early hours of Sunday, August 16th. Trees heaved, branches toppled onto roof tops, and transformers exploded as lightning crackled in the sky, sending bolts of electricity coursing through the swirling night air to make contact with the ground. Social media pages erupted with reports by thousands of locals who were stunned by the sudden ferocity of the storm, sharing photos of purple skies lit with streaks of lightning touching down in our mountains. Many of us simply watched in awe as we stood silent witness to the severe thunderstorm passing over our heads. The rain came an hour after the start of the storm that delivered nearly 11,000 lightning strikes. In stark contrast, morning dawned quietly, as if worn out by the effort of the night. There was debris and damage scattered throughout the area, but on that Sunday morning, it seemed the worst was past.  DESIGN – Put a colored break here for start of the story Boulder Creek Fire Protection District Chief Mark Bingham is relatively new to his post, but not new to his industry of fire suppression and prevention. Bingham cut his teeth with the Ben Lomond Fire District beginning in 1995; in 1998, he joined the Boulder Creek Fire Department (BCFD) as a firefighter, and in 2001, he was hired by NASA Ames Fire Department in Moffett Field. As is true with most volunteer firefighters who hold simultaneous positions with paid departments, his experience with each agency benefitted the other. In 2005, Bingham was promoted to lieutenant, and then to captain in 2007. Suffice to say, Bingham, 41, is seasoned for his age. In August of 2019, Bingham’s promotion to Assistant Fire Chief was announced, following the pending retirement of then-chief Kevin McClish. Chief Bingham took the reins of the department as Fire Chief beginning November 1, 2019 with the full support of BCFD’s Board of Directors and personnel.   In a town like Boulder Creek, nature has a way of calling the shots. Heavy rains cause mudslides, which close roads and trap residents; trees topple after storms, taking down utility poles and leaving neighbors without power and internet access; pavement gives way when the earth beneath it is saturated, and major travel arteries like Bear Creek Road and Highway 9 are squeezed into one lane until the roads can be safely restored. Local businesses and long-time residents know the drill. They lean on each other, and provide support when basic necessities are compromised. Johnnie’s Super Market keeps a rain gauge on its wall to track the inches of water inundating the town each winter, and Red Pearl’s Jenny Wu is beloved for her generosity towards customers in times of need. Cities are cities, but towns are families.  DESIGN – Put a colored break here for start of the story  Mark Bingham was sleeping in his family’s trailer the night of Saturday, August 15th. A heat wave had settled into the San Lorenzo Valley with still air and record temperatures, making Bingham’s Boulder Creek home too hot to sleep in. Even with the air conditioning running in his fifth wheel, Bingham was still blanketed by the heat held beneath the canopy of redwoods, pine trees and oaks on his property. Through the branches of the towering trees and the grade of earth that rises behind his home, Bingham watched the lightning flash. He sat up in bed, took notice, and mentally began to prepare for battling what was yet unknown, but inevitable: the firefight of his life.      “I’ll go back as far as I can, and try to work forward,” Chief Bingham told me. I was perched in a well-worn black leather chair, seated across the desk which has played host to multiple fire chiefs since the department’s inception in 1892. “I don’t want to ask you any questions,” I told Bingham at the outset of our interview. “I just want you to tell me your story, and how it all played out.”   “Somewhere around the wee hours of the 16th, the storm was coming through San Lorenzo Valley pretty hard. I’ll never forget it: I woke up around 4:30am to lightning, thunder and my phone and pager going off, alerting me to the incident, and requesting me specifically. It was a CalFire request to Boulder Creek for Chief 2100 to respond to a fire. It was about two miles outside of town, and I wasn’t able to see how many resources were coming, but I was told that other units were being ordered, so I asked our dispatch center to send one of our Type-3 apparatus. Engine 2137—our water tender—was dispatched.”     Type 3 and Type 6 pumpers are the most widely used engines in wildland urban interface fire response because of their versatility, maneuverability, off-road abilities, and fire suppression capabilities. - Alan Petrillo, Fire Apparatus Magazine  A water tender is a type of firefighting apparatus that specializes in the transport of water from a water source to a fire scene. Water tenders are capable of drafting water from a stream, lake or hydrant. - Wikipedia  “When I got out there, we found the fire below a house; we went direct on the fire and were able to contain it. I became more of an Incident Commander (IC) as additional resources arrived, and we ended up with two CalFire engines and a hand crew.”  There are two types of hand crews. Type I crews focus on constructing fire lines (areas designed to stall progression of the fire) by hand in areas too rugged or where environmental sensitivities prevent heavy machinery. Type II crews mostly construct fire lines to help contain and control wildland fires and can perform initial attacks on fires. - California Conservation Corps   “I looked off the ridge; we were on the end of a bluff, and I could see lightning hitting the ridges in all directions. We would see a lightning strike, and then a column of smoke rise up. Before I could even call it in, other people were on the radio, saying that they were seeing the same thing. That’s when it dawned on me that there were a lot of incidents going on before BCFD got the call, and CalFire was already out there working those fires. I was dispatched to the 3-10 Fire. If you have multiple fires at the same time, those are called complex fires, and they are assigned numbers to break them down according to location. The “3” stood for CalFire Battalion 3, which is located in the San Lorenzo Valley, and it was the 10th fire. That’s when I realized that this is what we were going to do all day. My experience working for CalFire’s Shasta-Trinity unit mirrored this event—we would watch lightning strikes pound the area, and then spend two days chasing fires—so I knew we were in for the long haul.  “I came back to the station, and that afternoon we were called back out again to assist CalFire in their area, miles outside of our fire district. I knew these fires were threatening the Boulder Creek Fire District, and all of the valley districts cooperate with CalFire and each other, so I went back out with another water tender. This time we were dispatched to North China Grade Road, and when we got up there, we saw multiple columns of smoke going up from the ridges. We called for support and were told there were no resources coming. We were able to do fire attack and officially get containment, but it took overnight and into the next morning, which was Monday the 17th. At this point I thought the threat to Boulder Creek’s Fire District was mitigated.  “Some of our folks slept on the line that night; I was able to get released by CalFire, and our tender and type 3 came back the next day. That Tuesday mid-day we got called out to an unknown type of fire at Crows Nest and Tradewinds on the top of East Hilton. There’s a logging property up there, and I knew there was a truck trail that was accessible, so I raced up the hill and met with the Redwood Empire (logging company) representative. He took me down the ridge a bit, maybe a mile in, and showed me a spot fire that had burned out a 10’ x 10’ area.    A spot fire is a fire started by flying sparks or embers (sometimes referred to as firebrands or brands), at a distance from the main fire. - Merriam Webster   “He’d already put it out, so I called CalFire, and a prevention officer came out. He was hoping like heck that it wasn’t a spot fire, but he came to the same conclusion I did. He agreed to notify someone from his agency, and just then, we watched as a glowing, smoldering rat’s nest landed  right in front of us. I turned to the CalFire officer and said, “How close is the closest fire?” He replied, “Oh, it’s MILES from here.” Turns out that spot fire was started by a fire that was six miles away. I called down to CalFire in Felton to let them know we had witnessed a spot fire; I forwarded a picture of the firebrand that landed, and then called another member of the fire service to alert them. We don’t use the term “spot fire” lightly, and it was important that I got the message across so they knew exactly what the CalFire prevention officer and I had seen. Up to this point, all of the fires had been outside of our district—this was the first one inside our district. Once I returned to the station, the first thing I did was review our evacuation maps. I continued working until that evening, and after obtaining more information about the proximity of the fire to our district, I decided that we needed to release a fire evacuation order. Not a warning, but an order. We would typically issue a warning first to allow residents time to collect their things and make their plans, but my experience with fires in heavy timber like this is that it can pick up a head of steam and really get going. If I had not made that decision then, we would have had hundreds of people still in that 236 drainage route. From the moment I pulled that order until the moment that fire hit, when we look at the fire modeling and progression, there’s no way we could have gotten the people out in time; there were some residences that were impacted within a few hours. If I had stayed with a warning, those people might not have gotten out at all.”  Next week: The fire grows, bringing danger and risks to the residents of Boulder Creek.