They survived six hours in a pool as their neighborhood burned
October 13, 2017 8:38 AM Subscribe
"Jan Pascoe and her husband, John, were trapped. The world was on fire, and Jan was hyperventilating from fear. Then they remembered their neighbors’ pool."
Good God.
posted by Sublimity at 8:50 AM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Sublimity at 8:50 AM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]
Another couple wasn't as lucky.
Wine Country fire: Huddled in pool amid blaze, wife dies in husband’s arms
posted by severiina at 8:52 AM on October 13, 2017 [7 favorites]
Wine Country fire: Huddled in pool amid blaze, wife dies in husband’s arms
posted by severiina at 8:52 AM on October 13, 2017 [7 favorites]
Thanks lalochezia, but your warning made me HAVE to check the article comments - ICK!
posted by twsf at 9:00 AM on October 13, 2017 [9 favorites]
posted by twsf at 9:00 AM on October 13, 2017 [9 favorites]
Holy fucking shit.
posted by materialgirl at 9:00 AM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by materialgirl at 9:00 AM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
. for those who didn't make it out.
posted by limeonaire at 9:06 AM on October 13, 2017 [12 favorites]
posted by limeonaire at 9:06 AM on October 13, 2017 [12 favorites]
This is an amazing story.
As someone whose elderly parents are currently in a Red Cross shelter (and about to run out of medication), I've been half-surprised that there haven't been any fire posts on the blue yet -- but a bit too overwhelmed personally to start one myself.
posted by Slothrup at 9:08 AM on October 13, 2017 [8 favorites]
As someone whose elderly parents are currently in a Red Cross shelter (and about to run out of medication), I've been half-surprised that there haven't been any fire posts on the blue yet -- but a bit too overwhelmed personally to start one myself.
posted by Slothrup at 9:08 AM on October 13, 2017 [8 favorites]
Completely awful!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:36 AM on October 13, 2017
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:36 AM on October 13, 2017
> Another couple wasn't as lucky.
I was just reading that, sitting at my desk crying.
posted by rtha at 9:40 AM on October 13, 2017
I was just reading that, sitting at my desk crying.
posted by rtha at 9:40 AM on October 13, 2017
Slothrup, there's a metatalk thread that has been functioning as a thread for the fires.
posted by MillMan at 9:40 AM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by MillMan at 9:40 AM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]
Their mountaintop home was built like a boat with small rooms on 11 levels. It was filled with dozens of John’s paintings. Each room was designed to remind them of places they’d encountered during their travels. One had tatami mats, an idea from a restaurant in Bangkok. Their bedroom was inspired by a house they’d rented on Thailand’s Ko Samui Island. Their expansive decks, the site of countless parties over nearly four decades, offered spectacular views of the hills.
At first light, the Pascoes had been in the pool for about six hours. When the worst seemed to be over, John slipped Jan’s melted shoes onto his feet as best he could and picked his way up the hill to see their house. It was gone.
All his paintings. The Chihuly bowls. Everything.
.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 9:53 AM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]
At first light, the Pascoes had been in the pool for about six hours. When the worst seemed to be over, John slipped Jan’s melted shoes onto his feet as best he could and picked his way up the hill to see their house. It was gone.
All his paintings. The Chihuly bowls. Everything.
.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 9:53 AM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]
My in-laws have their car packed in case of an evacuation order from the Tubbs fire. Right now it's not looking like it will more to their area but these things move and change so fast that you never know. The Valley Fire two years ago came within a half a mile of their place while they were evacuated and had no way of knowing what what happening to their house. This stuff is just terrifying.
posted by octothorpe at 9:57 AM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by octothorpe at 9:57 AM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
More than half my time in the Coast Guard was spent stationed in Petaluma or in Marin County (Pt. Reyes), and early on I made a lot of friends in the Santa Rosa area. They became my escape from my disappointment with the military. Even before I got an off-base housing allowance, I put much of my regular pay toward splitting an apartment with friends in Santa Rosa. That was the '90s and some of those friends have moved away, but many others are still there.
This whole thing has been awful to watch. So far I've had only one friend lose his home. It happened on the first night. I scrolled back through his Facebook page yesterday and saw the whole sequence of events from "Wow there's a fire near here" to "Lost everything, here's a link to my GoFundMe."
And it wasn't until somebody else spoke up on his behalf that I found out any real details. He was living with housemates, and he spent almost all of what little warning time they had taking care of their pets and their needs. About the only bit of his own belongings he saved was a picture of his son.
I've seen lots of stuff shared around by those friends on Facebook about resources and where to go and, of course, the Red Cross being less than stellar (also Facebook, sorry). Lots of stuff about recovered pets & efforts to reunite. Not sure how much is worth sharing here or how much sharing Facebook posts to MeFi helps.
That first year in the military for me was largely friendless and miserable. Then I got sent out to Sonoma County for training and met friends (outside the military) and it was like the sun came out again. I had friends again. Watching the area go through this is heartbreaking.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:48 AM on October 13, 2017 [21 favorites]
This whole thing has been awful to watch. So far I've had only one friend lose his home. It happened on the first night. I scrolled back through his Facebook page yesterday and saw the whole sequence of events from "Wow there's a fire near here" to "Lost everything, here's a link to my GoFundMe."
And it wasn't until somebody else spoke up on his behalf that I found out any real details. He was living with housemates, and he spent almost all of what little warning time they had taking care of their pets and their needs. About the only bit of his own belongings he saved was a picture of his son.
I've seen lots of stuff shared around by those friends on Facebook about resources and where to go and, of course, the Red Cross being less than stellar (also Facebook, sorry). Lots of stuff about recovered pets & efforts to reunite. Not sure how much is worth sharing here or how much sharing Facebook posts to MeFi helps.
That first year in the military for me was largely friendless and miserable. Then I got sent out to Sonoma County for training and met friends (outside the military) and it was like the sun came out again. I had friends again. Watching the area go through this is heartbreaking.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:48 AM on October 13, 2017 [21 favorites]
I'm not surprised about the Red Cross allegations. The ARC is very good at getting ARC logos on National and local news footage. Actually helping people may be better left to less marketing centered organizations.
posted by Megafly at 11:13 AM on October 13, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by Megafly at 11:13 AM on October 13, 2017 [8 favorites]
Local people are rallying. It's an overwhelming project, but everywhere you go, people are collecting food, clothing, money, anything.
posted by janey47 at 11:15 AM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by janey47 at 11:15 AM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]
Per the mayor of Santa Rosa (2nd hand): the city has lost 5% of its housing stock, when it was already at 1% vacancy before the fires.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 1:46 PM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by scaryblackdeath at 1:46 PM on October 13, 2017 [1 favorite]
There were severe wildfires in the hills above Malibu in the early 90's. Some friends of mine knew Eric Wright and his wife. Eric was the grandson of Frank Lloyd Wright. Both were artists and Eric sponsored cultural events on their property located on a hilltop. We went there 2-3 day safter the wildfire to see what they needed and if we could help out in any way.
At the time they had 2-3 assistants who worked with them. All still seemed to be in shock. They told us the story how they fought the fire once it reached the property. At some point they realized that they weren't stop it and that they were going to die. There a large pond on the property. One assistant realized that they could get in the pond as it seemed to be their only option to survive. They made it out to the center and held their ground saying as the fire reached them and began to move around the pond it became deathly quiet. They made it. Everything was destroyed on the property. And when they saw the pond the next day they saw that the water level had dropped about a foot and half due to the heat of the fires.
Eric's pond was pretty large. Maybe about 25-30' across in all directions. The image of the pool the Ocon couple used for shelter is terrifying. It looks as if it dropped 3 feet.
posted by goalyeehah at 2:13 PM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]
At the time they had 2-3 assistants who worked with them. All still seemed to be in shock. They told us the story how they fought the fire once it reached the property. At some point they realized that they weren't stop it and that they were going to die. There a large pond on the property. One assistant realized that they could get in the pond as it seemed to be their only option to survive. They made it out to the center and held their ground saying as the fire reached them and began to move around the pond it became deathly quiet. They made it. Everything was destroyed on the property. And when they saw the pond the next day they saw that the water level had dropped about a foot and half due to the heat of the fires.
Eric's pond was pretty large. Maybe about 25-30' across in all directions. The image of the pool the Ocon couple used for shelter is terrifying. It looks as if it dropped 3 feet.
posted by goalyeehah at 2:13 PM on October 13, 2017 [6 favorites]
"We have each other and we'll be fine." Love their faces.
posted by oh posey at 2:46 PM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by oh posey at 2:46 PM on October 13, 2017 [2 favorites]
In other news, Charles Schulz's home (where his widow was still living) is one of the 3500 houses burned. She escaped in plenty of time, and "most" of the Peanuts creator's memorabilia had already been moved to the nearby Charles Schulz Museum, which is temporarily closed but not threatened. Still, his work office with his longtime drawing table was still in the home and assumed lost. Good grief.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:40 PM on October 13, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:40 PM on October 13, 2017 [8 favorites]
The worst part of all this is that the whole situation seems to be a self-inflicted would as the fires were likely caused by power lines that blew down in heavy winds leading to fires and transformer explosions, which also led to fires.
In addition to the terrible loss of life this is going to be one hell of an expensive natural disaster because it's destroyed homes and businesses in one of the most expensive parts of the country.
Although it's not much compared to the loss of life, 13 wineries have been destroyed. I don't know the details of each of those wineries but wine grape vines aren't easily replaced - if some vineyards lost very old vines they're essentially irreplaceable without just waiting the years until the vines mature.
On top of all that the ash in the air could well ruin an entire year's worth of wine. Some small luck is that most grapes have been harvested for this year and the vineyards that survived should have any immediate loss of fruit but the ash covering everything won't do the soil much good.
it's been hard on animals as well - cattle, horses, dogs, cats and then the residents of hobby farms like goats and llamas. One wildlife park managed to stay safe luckily even though the owner lost his own home.
To me the scariest thing to realize is that this could very easily happen in the Santa Cruz mountains and make its way into Los Gatos, Saratoga, Cupertino... pretty populous suburbs distressingly close to where I live. If anyone has some rain, feel free to send it around here.
posted by GuyZero at 3:41 PM on October 13, 2017 [7 favorites]
In addition to the terrible loss of life this is going to be one hell of an expensive natural disaster because it's destroyed homes and businesses in one of the most expensive parts of the country.
Although it's not much compared to the loss of life, 13 wineries have been destroyed. I don't know the details of each of those wineries but wine grape vines aren't easily replaced - if some vineyards lost very old vines they're essentially irreplaceable without just waiting the years until the vines mature.
On top of all that the ash in the air could well ruin an entire year's worth of wine. Some small luck is that most grapes have been harvested for this year and the vineyards that survived should have any immediate loss of fruit but the ash covering everything won't do the soil much good.
it's been hard on animals as well - cattle, horses, dogs, cats and then the residents of hobby farms like goats and llamas. One wildlife park managed to stay safe luckily even though the owner lost his own home.
To me the scariest thing to realize is that this could very easily happen in the Santa Cruz mountains and make its way into Los Gatos, Saratoga, Cupertino... pretty populous suburbs distressingly close to where I live. If anyone has some rain, feel free to send it around here.
posted by GuyZero at 3:41 PM on October 13, 2017 [7 favorites]
I too was tempted to read the comments. Monday morning quarterbacks are the worst. I hope they never have to face such a disaster.
posted by AFABulous at 4:14 PM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by AFABulous at 4:14 PM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]
And another cartoonist (living) who I like and follow lost his home in Santa Rosa - David Feis of "Mom's Cancer", "Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow" and "The Last Mechanical Monster" fame (and if you haven't heard of them, LOOK THEM UP). He begins documenting what happened in comic form here.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:09 PM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:09 PM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]
What immediately came to mind was a detail from the Icelandic story of Gissur Þorvaldsson:
Gissur was living in a manor farm in the north called Flugumýri, in Skagafjörður. In 1253, during a wedding celebration there, Gissur's enemies attacked the house and set the buildings on fire, killing his wife, all three of his sons and another 25 people. Gissur himself escaped with his life, unheroically enough, by hiding in a cask half-full of sour whey.posted by clawsoon at 8:08 PM on October 13, 2017 [5 favorites]
Amazing and heartbreaking drone footage from Santa Rosa.
posted by octothorpe at 7:25 AM on October 14, 2017
posted by octothorpe at 7:25 AM on October 14, 2017
The worst part of all this is that the whole situation seems to be a self-inflicted wound
85-90% of wildfires in the US are. They are maybe the worst of natural disasters as they linger like a cancer, painfully creeping and teasing us with the idea that maybe we can control them.
PG&E's continued neglect of public safety over profits through "cost reduction" should sendpeople executives to prison.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 12:55 PM on October 14, 2017 [3 favorites]
85-90% of wildfires in the US are. They are maybe the worst of natural disasters as they linger like a cancer, painfully creeping and teasing us with the idea that maybe we can control them.
PG&E's continued neglect of public safety over profits through "cost reduction" should send
posted by Ogre Lawless at 12:55 PM on October 14, 2017 [3 favorites]
« Older Random Ties that Bind | Criminalizing a Boycott Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
also: NEVER READ THE COMMENTS
posted by lalochezia at 8:45 AM on October 13, 2017 [12 favorites]