Grief and Gratitude at the same time.
("Signs of Life")
It wasn’t until yesterday that the public was allowed to enter the fire zone where homes were lost. It is devastating. Feeling that, and seeing it, it’s also remarkable to see one house standing intact, where in all directions around it everything is gone. It seems like most streets here where the fire whipped us most have one of those. We feel grief for some and grateful for others at the same time.
The Angora Fire was stopped literally at the edge of South Lake Tahoe High School. A stand was made there, thankfully one that prevailed. The homes in Angora Highlands were also a remarkable success story. Seeing where the fire was, and then instantly where it wasn’t, and therefore got stopped by the will and skill of anonymous firefighters doing their job, is startlingly clear. One house did get lost up there, but all others made it, some of which got full loads of retardant bombed directly on them. They were orange and defiant in yesterday’s setting sun.We went to the end of Seneca Drive. It was just past here a little deeper into the forest that the fire started, allegedly by an illegal campfire, at Seneca Pond. On both sides of the street the two houses next to the forest remained, one newer and extremely nice. Only a few feet away, the forest floor was scorched black and denuded, it’s trees stripped black and bare. Other than divine intervention, or just plain old fashioned good luck, there is no reason why those two houses are still there.
Right there at that forest edge, at that point where the wild fire first encountered civilization, and tested it, a small hand-painted sign leans against a rock on the soot stained earth. To one and all, creatures and man alike, and to the heavens above, it reads: “Thank You Firefighters.”
There are success stories everywhere, and especially in those neighborhoods the fire most challenged and lost. All homes were saved in Gardner Mountain, Tallac Village, The Tahoe Keys and perhaps beyond. But they didn’t have to be still here and we all know it. About 2,200 dedicated people from near and far protected where we live and what we call home. And our community is profoundly grateful.
That sign at end of Seneca Drive may be alone at the forest’s edge, but it is not the only such sign around. They are everywhere. Our community, while in recovery, is one not shy in expressing its gratitude, and we very much know where it should be placed.
Though not all of them, but we’ve got some of them, we thought we’d let them speak for themselves. There are 49 slides here and what a tale they have to tell. Signs of Life.
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