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Ramona Witch Creek Fire
Firestorm 2007 Special
Issue
Traffic gridlocked getting out of town
Residents leaving Ramona on Sunday evening faced bumper-to-bumper traffic for
more than four hours. A woman and her family from Country Estates said it took
four and one-half hours to leave town.
Ronda Guile was directed west on
Hanson Lane from San Vicente Road. "We were stuck on Hanson Lane, it was crazy,"
she said. "It was a long time to get out of the Estates. Once we turned onto
Hanson, It was three and a half hours."
After they reached Main Street,
Guile said they didn't know where to go. By the time they reached Poway Road, it
was closed. By then, it was 2:30 a.m. They had left their home at 9
p.m.
They traveled across Scripps Poway Parkway and found rooms available
at a motel in Rancho Bernardo. Two hours later they were evacuated
again.
"At 5:30, the phone rings. It was the management, calling to say
'Mandatory evacuation; please be out in 30 minutes or less,'" she
said.
They were on the road again, heading toward La Jolla in hopes of
finding a "Vacancy" sign. They finally found a motel with two rooms that could
accommodate Guile, her husband, their daughter, her invalid mother, and the
family dog. By 2 p.m. that motel had no vacancies.
Another woman who
lives near the high school said it was a three-hour trip to Main Street. Many
evacuees were stopping at gas stations to fill up before making the trek down
the hill.
My husband and I live one mile from Main Street. By not taking
the direct route, we were in the flow of traffic in short time. Drivers were
very accommodating, allowing cars to "get in line" from side streets. Where
state Route 67 south merges into one lane around Mount Woodson, cars were going
in one after another. No one was "crowding."
Traffic moved along at 5 mph
until the Mount Woodson overpass; then it sped up to 15 mph. It took 90 minutes
to reach Poway where we stayed overnight at our son's house. The next morning we
were evacuated again and drove to San Diego. After finding an open restaurant in
Clairemont (Poway restaurants were closed) where we chatted with other
evacuaees, we went
to my sister's house and spent several hours there.
We were allowed back into Poway by 7 p.m. and from my son's patio, we
watched the fire ridge burning in Ramona.
An estimated 1,000 people
stayed behind in Ramona. Many stayed because they knew there was a job to do and
they would be needed. Ron Mulick, assistant general manager at Ramona Municipal
Water District, said 75 percent of the work force are in the
field.
Mulick said he stayed behind for two reasons: to protect his home,
if necessary; and to go to work. He also stayed behind during the Cedar fire in
2003.
"I live in Country Estates area. I feel very safe in Country
Estates," he said. "And I knew they were going to need me here at the water
district."
Wes Stalker also stayed to work at the water district. Vickie
Stalker worked alongside her husband and his crew in clearing roads for trucks
to get through to the pump station in Poway. Their daughter, Janis Stalker,
joined Kim Miller and Kim Bartlett, whose husbands work at the district, in
preparing lunches for the workers. On Tuesday, the women prepared at least 50
sandwiches for the workers.
Cell phones kept many friends in touch with
each other. Those who had access to computers were able to send emails and check
current updates on the fire at various news sources.
Ramona Home Journal
is posting updates with stories and photos: www.ramonahomejournal.com.
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