UPPER LAKE, Calif. – An Upper Lake community member who last week lost her home in a wildland fire is the focus of a newly launched fundraising effort.
Leslie Sue Humphrey escaped the Saratoga Fire – which began on the afternoon of Wednesday, Sept. 3 – with just the clothes on her back and her cat, Maow Maow.
Officials said the fire was sparked along Highway 20 near Saratoga Springs Road when a vehicle driven by Jackson resident Shellie Boulais, 52, went off the road and into a ditch shortly before 4 p.m. on Sept. 3. Boulais later was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.
Humphrey moved to Upper Lake in 1985, initially living in the Hunter Point area.
In 1998 she purchased the property at 4020 Highway 20, on the highway's north side, and developed it to include a modular home, shed, greenhouse, pump house and water storage tank.
Her brother had lived the last years of his life there, and her son also was a resident, along with 2-year-old Maow Maow, who showed up as a kitten in the engine bay of her son's vehicle.
On the day of the fire, Humphrey said her son had just left to go to the grocery store when she smelled smoke, which prompted her to call 911. The dispatcher told her to leave immediately.
She said the fire moved “incredibly fast,” estimating it was four minutes from the time she noticed the smoke to the point where she left the house, after having stuffed the nervous Maow Maow into a cat carrier.
Humphrey got in her car and headed down the driveway, meeting up with a neighbor along the way who she urged to leave immediately with her children and animals.
Then Humphrey said she drove to Pet Acres to get a phone to try to call her son. As it turned out, both of their cell phones were still in her home.
“I knew the house was going to go,” she said. “The fire was just going so fast.”
The fire did, indeed, move quickly. Northshore Fire Protection District Chief Jay Beristianos said Humphreys' house was almost completely consumed by the time he got to the fire scene.
Initially, Humphrey stayed with her friend Claudine Pedroncelli, and now is staying at a Ukiah motel while she works with her insurance company to work out the details about rebuilding her home.
“I don’t know how long all of this is going to take,” said Humphrey.
Humphrey said that, in addition to the house, the shed also burned. However, her pump house and water storage tank are still standing. “Water is necessary for life so I feel very encouraged about that.”
Beristianos pointed out that, usually after a structure fire, there are some things left and residents can go in and sort them out.
“This poor lady lost everything,” Beristianos said, noting that Red Cross can help cover some of her immediate housing needs.
Beristianos and Pedroncelli both said that Humphrey is a person who has given a lot to her community.
Humphrey, a retired Mendocino College senior programmer analyst, said she tries to make herself available to help.
She has been working with Pedroncelli at Upper Lake Senior Support Services for the last year and a half, helps out at the library and during monthly food giveaways at the senior center, and also worked with Pedroncelli on a disaster preparedness plan for the lake's north side.
“I kind of feel like I'm a poster child of what you shouldn't do,” she said, looking back on her fire experience, for which she believes she should have been more prepared.
This week, she gave her friends the OK to begin an online fundraiser to help her get back on her feet.
The fundraiser can be found at http://www.youcaring.com/help-a-neighbor/saratoga-fire-victim/231200 .
As of early Thursday morning, the fundraiser had raised $920 of its $2,000 goal, with 51 days left.
While Humphrey is living on a small pension, she said she doesn't like the idea of taking money away from people who may be more in need of money than she is.
However, Beristianos – citing her contributions to the community – sees it differently.
“It’s an opportunity for the community to give back to her now,” he said.
The effort to get Humphrey help has centered on cash donations rather than donations of clothes and other items. Humphrey said she doesn't need any additional clothes at the moment, and isn't sure of just exactly what she will need since she's early in the process of rebuilding.
“I'm in a hotel right now so everything's incredibly temporary,” she said.
In discussing her experience, Humphrey has focused on the positive, and the good she has experienced thanks to friends and neighbors.
“People have been so incredibly generous. It’s just mind-boggling to me,” she said, noting the many offers of help and places to stay. “I think we live in one of the best communities in the world.”
She's also very grateful to be alive, also expressing gratitude that her son and cat are both safe. Humphrey said she was glad her son was off running errands, otherwise he would have tried to go back to the house to save things.
“This is actually a good experience for me, to know how wonderful everybody is,” Humphrey said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.