Creek Fire evacuees face long wait to return home; resources taxed as other fires burn
People evacuated from their homes face a long wait before getting back into areas scorched or under threat from the Creek Fire, which continues to share precious firefighting resources with more than 25 major fires burning up and down the state of California.
“Those areas, just to be quite frank you guys, it’s going to be a while before there is a re-population,” Fresno County Sheriff’s Lt. Brandon Pursell said at Wednesday’s nightly briefing by local and state agencies involved in the evacuation and firefighting efforts.
“We want you to be able to get back to your home. We do. But we have to make sure that it’s safe for you to do that.”
The U.S. Forest Service reported Thursday morning the Creek Fire surpassed 175,000 acres in size.
Cal Fire reported 60 homes and 277 commercial and residential mixed-use buildings were destroyed. Four non-residential commercial and 20 other smaller buildings also were destroyed.
Six residences, two commercial and one smaller building were damaged.
And not all areas have been fully surveyed.
Because of the number of fires happening along the West Coast, including more than two dozen major wildland or multi-fire “complex” fires in California, Cal Fire currently is limited to eight damage-inspection teams in the field for the Creek Fire.
“We were hoping to have 10,” said Nick Truax, a Cal Fire incident management team commander, who added that 51 new fires popped up in California on Tuesday.
There are roughly 1,300 firefighters on the line in Fresno and Madera counties.
“This fire, under normal conditions,” Truax said, “we would probably have 3,000 to 4,500.”
Surveying the scene
About 50% of the homes in Fresno County and 30% in Madera County that have been affected by the Creek Fire had been evaluated via a “windshield survey,” Truax said.
“When I say (the percentages), it’s the areas that we can get into,” he added. “There are a lot of roads out there that are just blocked.”
A windshield survey is essentially a guesstimate of how many homes and other buildings have survived or been damaged or destroyed.
It’s at times difficult to tell from the concrete slab that remains whether it was a shed or home or business. Property lines blur with fences gone.
Pursell told those in areas such as Prather, Auberry, Sycamore, Huntington and Shaver, particularly the higher you go, that it would be “probably a couple weeks.”
“We have issues with trees that are going to need to get cut down, power lines, utilities,” Pursell said. “There’s a lot that goes into letting everybody back.”
That includes one of the major roadways, Highway 168.
“There are guardrails that are destroyed, and there’s trees that are falling on the road, or ready to fall on the road that will need to be cleared,” Truax said.
Deputies continue patrols
Law-enforcement personnel, about 150 each day he said, continue to patrol evacuation zones on the Fresno County side of the fire to prevent break-ins or looting.
Madera County’s force is 100, “working 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said Zack Zamudio of the Madera County Sheriff’s Office.
“Your homes are being protected.”
A warning was issued to those who attempt to get back into the evacuation areas on their own after two people were arrested when deputies said they failed to obey roadblocks and officers gave chase.
“Anyone who drives through those roadblocks, you’re going to be arrested. We will chase you. We will arrest you for that.”
While he said that deputies “understand the frustration” of evacuees eager to see if their homes are still standing, it is simply too dangerous.
“As soon as people start driving through those roadblocks, then we lose control of it. We have to then jeopardize our fire personnel. We have to jeopardize our public safety personnel to now get you out of it.”
Is my home damaged or destroyed?
Officials said they regularly receive questions about the condition of specific properties and residences.
But with the massive fire still very much active, there simply isn’t the conditions nor the manpower to check on and answer each inquiry.
“We want to get you that information,” Pursell said. “We’re trying to get that information.
“The reality is, we’re in a triage stage. We’re not in position to check on each individual residence.”
This story was originally published September 10, 2020 at 1:29 PM with the headline "Creek Fire evacuees face long wait to return home; resources taxed as other fires burn."
