Those not evacuating - and my experience [View all]

[rufus dog]

MSNBC just interviewed a guy in Corpus Christi who was not leaving, in a garage with family/neighbors, drinking beer. He commented that it won't be as bad as they say it will be.

So I live in a fire area in CA, we have had optional evacuation twice in the last twenty years. I did not leave, other neighbors and friends used my garage as a staging area. Here is the difference, we weren't drinking beer, we were monitoring and assisting. For example, tree caught fire from an ember, fire fighters were fighting fire at entry to canyon, we were able to be thirty yards back and use a hose to knock down the fire.

Previous to the fire hitting close, the firemen walked through, gave advice (keep garage door closed, move chemicals outside in bin, etc) we also helped them move wood lawn furniture and toys from the backyards dropping to the canyon into front yards across the street.

Across the street and at the end of the street the houses backed up to the canyon. The houses are stucco with tile roof so a house across the street would have to catch, roof collapse or open, then my row of houses might catch. We had a plan, jump the wall behind my house, run through a backyard and down a street about 1/4 mile where we had staged ALL cars so none were in a garage. And this was the big diffence, there was no way we would be cut off into an island and require assistance, the worse thing that would happen was skinning our shins jumping the back wall. (One neighbor was unsure he could scale the wall, so we put out a step stool, a few days later we challenged him to try jumping the wall, no problem)

These people in CC are not using any logic, drinking beer and thinking it won't be as bad as those elitist claim is sure way to put others in danger.