BORREGO EXTENDS HELPING HAND TO JULIAN AND RAMONA
Fire Victims Given Kindness and Shelter
by Bob Stuart

After too much delay and hesitation, my wife and I finally decided to flee the Cedar Fire late Tuesday afternoon, on Oct. 28. After having been evacuated slightly more than a year before because of the Pines Fire, we
felt the hazard to the Whispering Pines area had been reduced because of the previous con-
flagration to the north and east of us, but we also felt that fire agencies would never allow the new fire to travel through the historic town site to the west
of us.

We were nearly wrong on the latter assumption because this new firestorm nearly overwhelmed the best efforts of our protectors, with the downtown historic district barely escaping destruction. If that area had
been consumed, the next targets of the fire would have been Whispering Pines and the
original part of Kentwood-in-the-Pines.

Our departure came late enough in the day to result in our arrival at Borrego High School after dark. Evacuees from Ramona had been moved to the Julian High School and so Ramonans now joined Julianites to the new evacuation center in Borrego Springs when Julian was given its evacuation order.

Many of the Borrego High School students were pitching in to help get the evacuation center in operation pending the arrival of the more experienced Red Cross volunteers.

Because a motel on our route to the school was already fully booked, we decided to spend that first night in our cars; my wife Linda with our two parrots and me with our cat. After a couple hours tossing and turning, I finally got some uncomfortable sleep. Linda never did get any.

The following day, a friend from Julian informed us that the Borrego Springs Resort Hotel was discounting their rates by about half and was making an exception to their normal "no pets" rule. My old bod was telling me it could not handle another night in the car.

Surprisingly, that hotel still had some vacancies and we moved into those very pleasant quarters just in time to experience another power outage. I later discovered that SDG&E had asked the Imperial Irrigation District power system to supply Borrego Springs temporarily until it could resolve the host of power problems in San Diego County. That transfer of supply sources was in progress when we arrived at the hotel.

Electricity was soon restored and we settled into our new digs; with the parrots in the main room and the cat in the bathroom, much to his displeasure. After a couple of days, he was objecting with nearly nonstop howls.

Early Friday morning, I
mentioned to Laura Tessler, who is the night clerk at the hotel, that our cat was beginning to present a problem. She offered
to take him home with her and
I reclaimed him the next afternoon before returning home.
I am certain that residents in adjoining rooms were as grateful to Laura as I was.

I obtained a list of lodging establishments from the Borrego Springs Chamber of Commerce that had assisted evacuees so I could give thanks to more than just the hotel in which we stayed. The Chamber, by the way, eventually became the repository for new clothing and toiletry kits donations for fire victims when the Red Cross was unable to accept these at the school.

In addition to the Borrego Springs Resort Hotel, other
lodging facilities assisting the fire evacuees were: the Borrego Valley Inn, La Casa del Zorro, Palm Canyon Resort, Palms at Indianhead, Hacienda del Sol, Stanlunds Motel, Oasis Motel and Whispering Sands.

During the Pines Fire, Julian lodging establishments had
provided free or discounted
rooms for fire fighters and
fellow residents, which will always be remembered by those they assisted. Our Borrego Springs neighbors deserve to
be recognized for providing assistance to the residents of other back county communities during this most recent crisis.

Surely, their kindness will be rewarded at a far higher plane than the one we occupy.