The town of Happy Camp was nearly taken out by a firestorm!

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Dave Mack
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The town of Happy Camp was nearly taken out by a firestorm!

Post by Dave Mack » Thu Sep 10, 2020 1:54 am

For those of you who are worried about how and if we survived the voracious fire storm that swept down Indian Creek and threatened all of Happy Camp (northern California) yesterday and last night, I will update you with what I know so far. I still remain locked down in the Philippines because of COVID. In fact, the situation has turned for the worse over the past week. The Capital city of Manila is again under lock-down. So I won't be catching any flights out of here for a while.

But I do have good phone and Internet service and have been receiving updates from our Internal Affairs person on the ground, Dickey Melton. It is still too early to get all the facts straight. In fact, the story is still playing out! But I will do the best I can. There is also a Facebook page that has been set up by locals there, largely for people to try and locate their friends, family and pets, and get any news that might let them know if they have homes to return to. Many do not! Reading the posts, looking at the images, and the video on this sight will give you a heart-wrenching reality of how things have played out as this wild beast of a fire storm ravaged the areas around Happy Camp: www.facebook.com/groups/450382739965746 ... 1599605016

First of all, as far as I can tell, all of our staff are safe. Though I gather that at least two of our office girls lost their homes and even their pets. The fire was started by a lightning strike up by the Slater Butte lookout tower near the headwaters of Indian Creek. Very strong winds then ignited the fire into a force that could not be stopped, and it charged down Indian Creek taking out everything in its path. Reports are still coming in, But I gather that all or most of the ranches and homes along Indian Creek were lost. The fire even got into the Indian Meadows home development on the edge of Happy Camp, taking out the church there and all but three homes. It also jumped across Indian Creek road and rushed around to threaten the Karuk Housing Community which is up on the hillside just behind our building. I am told that fire crews courageously worked all last night to hold the fire back and ultimately succeeded. If the fire was not stopped there, or down in the meadows, it likely would have consumed all of Happy Camp.

We had a lot of members actively mining along our properties. But because this nightmare came upon us so fast, our staff closed up the building and did not even have time to go save their pets! Local law enforcement and others were going around everywhere, warning people to evacuate.

On that note, this same fire has raged north into Oregon and is now threatening O'brian and Caves Junction along Highway 199. The same storm sparked a fire that nearly took out the beautiful town of Ashland, ravished Tallant, took out a big part of Phoenix, and even reached Medford, Oregon. They are estimating 600 lost homes.

Power is out in Happy Camp. The phone lines are still working along with our voice mail system. But it is unlikely that anyone will be listening to the phones for a while. Highway 96 is completely closed on both sides of Happy Camp because the fires are still raging in other directions. Our staff and their families will need time to put their lives back together. If there is anyone who would like to help us set up a GoFundMe page to help our loyal staff members, I can be reached at <davemack@goldgold.com>. I volunteer to contribute the first thousand dollars.

I suggest the best way for us to keep up with how this situation progresses, and how it will affect the remainder of our season, is by communicating on this Internet message forum at: https://goldgold.com/message-forums

My understanding is that the fire continues to charge down Doolittle Creek; and if it jumps the river, it will race up Elk Creek. Craig Colt and Derek Eimer have defied mandatory evacuation orders and remain in Elk Creek Campground using water pumps from the creek to keep the park wet down. Derek has placed some posts, with incredible images of the fire, on the forum. You can see in one image just how close the fire came to our building! Derek's thread should be just below mine.

While we escaped complete destruction this time, hundreds of people living near Happy Camp lost everything but their lives. It's going to take a long time for our local community to come back from this.

For those of you who are interested, I'll look for you on our forum.

Stay safe. There are perilous times!

Dave McCracken

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Re: The town of Happy Camp was nearly taken out by a firestorm!

Post by Joe.S.AK » Thu Sep 10, 2020 4:03 am

The day before yesterday, in Northern Idaho, we were evacuated due to a really fast moving, large fire caused and powered by very high winds, feeding on high amounts of no rain in many weeks dry vegetation. Long story short, 1/2 mile from the house it was finally stopped due to the superior efforts of the local fire folks.

First was the smell of smoke, then a few minutes later the "Prep for Evac" notice and a few minutes later "Bug-Out!" 25 hours later it was under control. We were ready at the first smell of smoke but only had time to grab the 'Away Bags", two coats and the truck keys. No pets or farm animals to protect so it was blindingly fast for us. Some homes and buildings were lost but no loss of life.

It can happen anywhere, any time - so be pre-packed with Away Bags fully packed and at the ready.

All the best -

Joe
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