Here We Go Again

Maybe I make chaos poetic because I’m a writer. Or maybe it’s just the irony I can’t unsee. Five years ago, the Creek Fire chewed through 379,000 acres of the Sierra National Forest—the place I call home. I wrote about it; that piece ended up in a book and the local paper. I told the truth, mostly. I left out the grittier parts of when management sent us to break into the ski resort to rescue what mattered from the business office. I  also left out the more traumatic details of being held at gunpoint at my husband’s childhood home, accused of looting while we were evaluating and evacuating the things we deemed necessary. Traumatic, dancing on the line of legal, but definitely real. You do what you have to do when the place you love is at stake.

The Start of the Creek Fire 2020

The Start of the Garnet Fire

So yes, I’m more cynical now. I’m writing this from my parents’ house—the place I fled to when smoke started seeping into my own. I arrived smelling like a bonfire, ran my hastily packed clothes through the wash—twice—to get the soot of old memories out. I watched the lightning strike that sparked this new one—the Garnet Fire. I watched the Forest Service watch it from a nearby cliff near where I’d been climbing. Helicopters circled. No one set down.  

On the way home, my friend and I drove slower than usual, stopping at my favorite places. McKinley Grove—the giant sequoias that have always felt like grandparents—is burning now. We might have been the last civilians to see it before the scorch. As I write, the fire sits at 26,000 acres, and I’m already hearing the same echoes from 2020 in news bites and mountain chatter. “There’s no way it’ll reach Dinkey Creek” is the new “There’s no way it’ll reach Shaver Dam.” Fire has a way of humiliating our certainty.

So here I am, breathing clean air on the Creek Fire anniversary, trying to stay calm and remember that history doesn’t just rhyme—it repeats. I can’t believe it took five years to remember what we already knew: if we don’t care for these forests—remove the fuel, do the work—we keep rebuilding tinderboxes and calling it resilience.

Unfortunately, I have a feeling I will be adding to this post later. 

 

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Resources:

1. 1. Check orders/warnings: CAL FIRE + Fresno Sheriff. If your K-zone is “Order,” leave now. If “Warning,” be packed and gassed. CAL FIREFresno County Sheriff

   2. See smoke/AQI: AirNow Fire & Smoke map; mask up (N95) if AQI ≥150. fire.airnow.gov

   3. Roads: Confirm SR-168 and forest road status before you drive. QuickMaproads.dot.ca.gov

   4. Alerts on: Enable Everbridge (Fresno Sheriff) + CalAlerts. Fresno County Sheriff calalerts.org

   5. Need a shelter?: Use the Red Cross shelter finder or call the local chapter.

If you or someone you know needs help, contact Assembly Member David J Tangipa: tangipa@assembly.ca.gov