‘It tore my heart apart.’ Northern California homeless camp cleared due to fire danger
Orvella Myers stood Friday morning in the dirt where her tent used to be, a shady spot underneath the trees. Earlier that day, her tent, bed frame and clothing were scooped up by a bulldozer and destroyed.
“It tore my heart apart,” said Myers, 53, with tears in her eyes.
The only thing left of her camp was a chicken coop, which would be gone an hour later. After it was gone, a rooster dug its claws into the dirt, trying to roost in the spot the coop once stood.
Myers is one of about a dozen homeless campers who Sacramento County Regional Parks rangers are clearing from a longstanding encampment called “Ground Zero” in a wooded area of Rio Linda.
The Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District notified the county’s Department of Regional Parks that the area needed to be cleared because it is covered in dry grass at risk of sparking a fire, Ken Casparis, a spokesman for the department, said in an email.
“It’s a tinder box,” Sgt. Randy Bickel said, pointing to the wide open field of dry yellow grass adjacent to the camp.
Once the camp residents leave, the county will bring in goats to graze on the vegetation, Casparis said. The rangers started giving the campers notices to vacate in June, and social workers have connected with them, Casparis said. Once the goats finish, the area will reopen.
While the bulldozers cleared a section of the camp, Carol Dutcher stood in what she calls her “hut,” peeking through an opening in the wooden slab that serves as her front door. She was scared if she left, her camp would be destroyed.
“I’ve got kittens under the hut hiding,” Dutcher, 57, said. “If they tear it down, they’ll be crushed. I can’t lose my home.”
Dutcher has six adult cats and four kittens. Her “hut” has a door with a chain and padlock on it to keep out intruders. If she has to leave to go sleep in a tent elsewhere, she would be scared for her safety, she said.
“Last year, I had to sleep in a tent and I got raped,” Dutcher said. “A tent isn’t safe for a single woman.”
Instead of clearing the camp and destroying all the structures, the county should provide campers with education and tools to prevent fires, said Niki Jones, a homeless activist with the Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee.
Chaming Vang and Kao Her, who are married and have been staying at the camp five years, also do not know where they will go when they have to leave. They were offered shelter, but if they took it they would have to separate, which they did not want to do, Her said.
County spokeswoman Janna Haynes said county social workers offered the couple shelter twice, in a room where they would be together, and they declined.
Her said the camp is a close-knit community that often cooks dinner for each other and meditates together.
While watching the bulldozer scoop up items, Vang was lost for words.
“There’s no words to explain it,” Vang, 35, said. “I consider us a family.”
This story was originally published July 12, 2021 at 7:45 AM with the headline "‘It tore my heart apart.’ Northern California homeless camp cleared due to fire danger."
