HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – In the twilight hours of Saturday, Sept. 12, nearly everyone in Hidden Valley Lake and the adjoining area of the Ranchos was anxiously looking for a way to evade the Valley fire, which was closing with a rush and laying waste to everything in its path.
Shawn Harper, who had spent most of his 38 years of life there, was among them. In fact, he was seeking safety for seven residents of the area – five adults and two young boys – to avoid the devastating effects of a conflagration that has been declared a major disaster.
One of the most creative and amazing approaches to escaping the fire was the one taken by Harper: his next-door neighbor’s swimming pool.
“It was just a natural instinct,” said Harper, who knew he had to come up with a lifesaving measure quick after his efforts to secure gas for an alternate source of power were thwarted.
“The power went out around 6 p.m. and I ran down to get some gas so that we’d have power,” Harper added. “I was on my way down to the gas station and the fire hadn’t hit yet. I got down to the Hidden Valley baseball field on Hartmann Road. A small fire came up the hill and went into the Rancho area. Then I panicked and saw all the chaos of cars. They were stacked up trying to get out of here.”
Harper fought to protect his mother’s home on Honey Hill before racing back to his property to save what he could there. When he could fight no longer, he grabbed his children and ran to his childhood friend and neighbor’s house and told everyone to get into the pool.
Seven people did get in and were up to their noses in the water. But it was no cinch getting them there. The 81-year-old mother of one of Shawn’s neighbors resisted.
“She had a hard time getting in,” said Harper. “My mom and her son had to help her.”
Harper’s wife who works in in Santa Rosa was not present because the California Highway Patrol halted all vehicles at the Middletown city limits.
Besides the five adults and two boys, there were three dogs, one of which was in the pool, the others whimpering outside.
“The fire was a couple of hundred feet away,” Harper said, “but the winds were blowing and the flames from the vineyards were stretching and the air made it hard to breathe.”
Harper said that two outbuildings on his property were destroyed; one, a tool shed, he battled to try to save after the fire had passed.
Harper considered himself lucky. The log cabin that he and his parents built and which he grew up in was saved, as was his mother’s house.
But the affluent Ranchos area was hit by the fire as much as anyplace.
While the Ranchos are not owned by Hidden Valley Lake Association, Jim Freeman, the association's communications specialist, estimated that two dozen Ranchos units went up in flames.
Lives changed by loss
At last report, the Valley fire destroyed 1,958 structures, among them more than 1,300 homes, across the south county.
Thousands of lives have been changed by the fire, which for many took away nearly everything.
Said Dennis Jensen of Cobb, who taught art at Middletown High School for 30 years and coached football and wrestling, “We lost a cabin we’d had for 30 years.”
He continued, “I was not there when it burned. I was taking care of my little sister who was terminally ill and (eventually) died.”
Lawrence Forrest of Middletown felt helpless when he watched his home burn.
“The house we lost was more than a home. My wife and I spent 45 years of marriage there,” he said.
He lost a 1965 Chevy that belonged to his brother, along with a motorcycle, and much more. “I lost everything, including $50,000 worth of model engines. My model engine collection included engines from 1920 up to 1960 and was one of the finest collections on the West Coast, but I feel sorrier for my wife than I do me. She lost everything – the pictures of kids and the little Christmas tree ornaments that the kids made.”
Forrest was about to enjoy an anniversary dinner with his wife when he got a telephone call from a friend, tipping him off that a news program would carry a segment on Middletown’s burning.
“We watched our house burn down at my daughter’s house,” he said.
Gina Cantrell, a registered nurse from Middletown, had a home filled with a book collection that had taken her years to amass.
Cantrell had lived in her home for nine years, and had a custom bookcase made for what she estimated was a collection of 35,000 books.
“I had history, romance, science fiction and a really big collection of Issac Asimov,” said Cantrell. “But I lost everything I had.“
So did Anthony Carter, a car dealer, in Middletown.
“We lost 11 vehicles including three Cadillacs. We also lost a ’31 Plymouth that belonged to grandfather,” said Carter.
Darlene Simmons of Middletown lost her home of 45 years, which her husband had built.
“Feel? How do you think I feel? My whole life – 60 years – I’ve lived in Middletown. I raised my children here. I spent my first Mother’s Day here. There were a whole bunch of roses in the yard that my husband planted years ago. And they were beautiful. But we lost everything,” she said.
But, she added, “Will I rebuild? You betcha.”
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