Your Stories!
January 20, 2009 Dear Councilmember Horton, I wanted to share with you what I’ve found to be one of the most compelling stories of “unsung heroes” to arise from the recent fires. Sam Easterday of Crescent Drive in Hidden Hills was attending his son’s soccer game on the morning of November 15th. Around 9:00 am he noticed a smoke plume forming in the east in an area he thought to be around Corona. By 10:30 it was apparent a serious fire was being driven by 60 mph Santa Ana wind gusts in the direction where his friends, Laurie and Jeff Reeves live on the east side of town. Sam called them to offer his help. Jeff was already working hard at utilizing his construction pumper truck with it’s top-mounted water cannon to battle blazes that had reached his neighborhood. Sam and his wife, Joanne, drove to their place of business, grabbed his gas powered water pump and hoses and headed to the Bryant Ranch area to help Jeff. When they arrived at neighborhood the line of cars coming down Camino de Bryant was a quarter mile long as residents fled the approaching danger. To avoid the congestion, Sam and Joanne headed up a side street, encountering houses on both sides of them engulfed in flames. Joanne dropped Sam off at Jeff’s truck and headed back down the hill. Together Sam and Jeff worked side by side with appreciative firefighters putting out fires and watering down homes and vegetation. At times the smoke was so overwhelming they had to retreat to an unlocked garage to find air clear enough to catch their breath. After the firestorm passed over them they remained to extinguish fires as they saw them erupting. Nearly 2 hours later Sam felt he did all he could. He had no transportation to return home, and so his only option was to “borrow” a car. On his way home he called Joanne. Based on how she described the speed of the oncoming fires he urged her to get out of the house. He drove westbound on La Palma only to be turned back by the fire authorities to avoid a 5” water hose in the street. As he now headed eastbound, and in the opposite direction of his home, he picked up a lady with her dog and delivered them safely to her home. Now on the 91 freeway he sat in stopped traffic for 1 ½ hours, during which time the smoke was so bad he some times found it hard to breathe. In an attempt to divert traffic away from the fires police detoured cars down the wrong way of a 241 freeway ramp, back again onto the 91 eastbound to the 71…to the 60…to the 605. After almost 5 ½ hours of traveling to return home and join his family he arrived in Yorba Linda at 6:00 pm. Sam finally reached at his home of over 10 years only to find a smoldering vacant lot. It, too, had been claimed by the wildfires. Sam says that he wouldn’t have done anything differently. It’s hard to know how many structures Sam and others like him managed to save during one of the most disastrous natural events in Yorba Linda history. But it’s certain some families were able to return to their homes to find them still standing because people like Sam did what they knew they needed to do in order to help others. Michael Fry
I was out of town in the SF Bay area. A friend called to tell me Yorba Linda was on fire. I called home to wake my son Michael who works evenings at UPS. He saw the smoke coming over the hill on Stonehaven. Michael went to check on the situation and called back to say it looked bad. He gathered some papers and evacuated minutes before the Emerito house on Via De La Roca exploded. Not long after, a friend of mine arrived to check on the house. His name is Keith Baca and he drove from Mission Viejo to see if he could help. Keith called me on the phone inside my house and reported that two neighbor houses were burned down and that my backyard hillside and railroad tie retaining walls were on fire. Those railroad ties were installed 25 years ago by a previous owner and are full of a preservative called creosote. The prevailing use of creosote in the United States is to preserve wooden utilities/telephone poles, railroad cross ties, switch ties and bridge timbers from decay. It turns out that the creosote makes the railroad ties very flammable and sustains the flames even after being doused with water.
Keith went on to relate that there was initially an off duty LAPD cop and his son and teenage friend in the backyard fighting the fire. More people soon joined Keith, the cop his boys and my son Michael who had returned. The names and addresses are compiled below. This human bucket brigade carried water up the hill since there was no functioning water in my backyard. The firestorm had melted all the sprinkler pipes, valves and hoses on the hill. They stayed and fought the fire by hand and with a single neighbor’s hose. For 2 or three hours they split apart the retaining wall and continued to put out the fire that would flare up. With the ferocious wind, this was all done at great personal danger.
There is no question in my mind that had they not been there, the 40 foot tall pine trees would have eventually ignited and perhaps another 10 or 15 houses in our neighborhood would have also burned due to their burning embers. We all cannot thank these people enough.
People to thank: Dan Meyers, Garrett Meyers, Matt Barr, Keith Baca, Dick and Trenton Sheridan, Jeff Barr, Ken, Tommy and Robert Ryan, Dave Stewart
Sincerely,
Scott and Michael Kirby
Good Morning Jan,
I attended the last city council meeting and heard your request for names of those who saved homes. In the Hidden Hills area four brave men put out several structure fires and saved several homes on Sky Ridge: Michael Fry, homeowner; Mark Fry, his brother; Bill Etchegaray, his business associate and Tom Fahrny an out of area fireman. Also, Todd Purdue fought fires and saved several homes on the Fairwood. Other men who stayed or returned to save their own homes include
Warren Kraft(stayed and put our numerous fires), Larry Goodnough (returned to find burning embers 1 foot from house), Terry Kilker (returned to find his two porch posts ablaze), and Vic LeBrun.
Can you realize the increase in devastation if these men had not been here?
Diedre Goodnough
Dear City Council,
I am currently watching the meeting on Channel 3. I would like to add
another name to the list of Yorba Linda heroes. Dave Smith, my next
door neighbor on Alder Ave., was the only person fighting fire as the
fire raged up the street. He saved my home and the homes behind us. He
fought with garden hoses and turned on sprinklers. My father, Alan,
returned home on foot to check on our house and decided to stay and
fight with Dave. We are so thankful Dave and his brother-in-law came
home to fight. Our street only lost one home. Fire crews were absent
from our street for at least an hour after the fire burnt up our
street. Thank God for those residents who stayed to fight! They are
the true heroes!
Rachel Liberatore
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Hi Jan,
I need to add an unsung hero to the list of those who put out their own fires and
assisted their neighbors.
Terry Kilker
Have a great day.
Julia
The next day, Marcus and my husband were able to get into the area and
see that our home was still there. Marcus couldn’t resist checking on
the homes up the street. He said he was devastated to see that so many
houses were lost (seven I think) but imagine his joy when he saw Dr.
Gieger out in front of his still standing home! He went up to Dr.
Gieger and said “Hey, I am really sorry about what we did to your garage
doors” Dr. Gieger thought it was a very small price to pay to keep his
home.
The next evening Dr. Gieger invited Marcus and his family up to meet his
wife and family. As we approached one of the neighbors pointed at
Marcus and said “see that guy right there, he was amazing! He brought
this garage door down by himself and saved this house”! Marcus smiled
and said “I didn’t do anything by myself”.
Marcus has given us much to be proud of in his life. He was the winning
Pitcher in 1993 when Esperanza took the CIF Baseball title, he got a
college scholarship, he was drafted by the Oakland A’s which gave us
many years of pleasure watching him play professional baseball, but at
that moment a mother has never been so proud.
I don’t know the names of all the other guys who helped (though Marcus
probably does) but I will think of them often as the Heroes of the Fire.
Sherry L. Jones
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Another very interesting story is that I met a fellow by Name of Brandon
Maldonado, Owner of Maldonado Thile and Marble. He closed down his business
and put all of his workers to work either at the disaster center or going
to house offering to sandbag their slopes at no charge. He had his flatbed
loaded with sandbags and crew.
He lives in Yorba Linda and just wanted to help
Very Truly Yours,
Thomas C. Watts III,
“Neighbors”
Jim Scherler is a firefighter,
His wife says “that’s what he does.”
I wonder what makes a man fight fires?
I guess it’s “just because.”
Jim’s been our neighbor for 20 years,
Always there to lend a hand.
I never thought the day would come,
When again, he would need to make his stand.
But that he did with hook and axe,
He broke through the door just a matter of fact.
The house looked fine, no fire in sight,
But Jim knew better and prepared for the fight.
The fire was hidden, slowly creeping along,
Towards the attic where it could grow big and strong.
There were many fires Jim fought, some won, and some lost,
But this would be one that he would win at all costs.
With his axe and hook he took on the beast,
The one that was hiding preparing to feast.
A battle that would take many, Jim was all alone,
Exhaustion set in and muscles turned to stone.
When almost all hope was lost there was one last surge,
With the help of our neighbor Stan, their powers were merged.
Stan leaped into motion with all of his might,
He battled the beast that was winning the fight.
With axe and hook and hose in hand,
These two brave men continued their stand.
Not until the time when the last flame retreated,
Did they stop fighting this demon they had finally defeated.
Many homes would be lost by the next-day sun,
But thank God for these men, ours wouldn’t be one.
These words can’t express what is in our hearts for these two,
They saved not only our house but our memories, too.
- Written to honor Jim Scherler and Stan Imayanagita by Joe Vande Kappelle
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Good morning Councilmember Jan,
I told you that I would ’share’ my account of the fires, over in the Rose Drive area, and perhaps a little different slant that others have had, and altho’ according to what I read in the paper, there may well have been a lot of ‘flaws in fighting the fire.’
Let’s begin by saying————–due to our location, and proximity to Carbon Canyon, this is NOT the first time that our neighborhood has been threatened by fires……………Here, the neighbors have a mental mind set when we see ’smoke in the Canyon.’ Altho’ not a laughable matter————-my other half has always felt that when I ‘put certain things into place,’ the minute I see ‘Canyon smoke,’ do a little extra watering, refuse to leave home til the danger passes, etc. and frankly, he has always sort of made fun of my ‘preparedness.’ This go round, up in the evacuation staging area, he came over to me, and put his arm around me and apologized for his past ‘behaviors.’ It finally ’sunk in’ that one has to be prepared……………..and that my prior ‘attitudes’ were justified.
For me———–altho’ have never been on mandatory evacuation before, until now, have been ever so close, many times. One example of my preparedness—————-I have permanent ID on my horses’ halters, and long, long ago, since I have no trailer, decided IF I was here alone, in an emergency situation, I would just have to let my horses go and let them fend for themselves, and me, pray for the best.
My now adult daughters grew up here, with me having been here for over 36 years, and ‘know the drill.’ In retrospect I have to laugh, going back to the ‘day of the fires,’ I was en route home from a meeting** in Tustin at 10 AM, and barely myself realized there was smoke to the east. Both daughters were ‘on the horn’ quizzing me of ‘the location,’ and to say they would be on alert if I should need them…………this is what they do EVERY SINGLE time they see smoke in my/our direction. God love them. By mid-afternoon on Sat. I did ‘put our plan of action’ into place, and asked them to come and assist in loading vehicles with things that I needed to take——IF———and jelled our plan for the critters…………bearing in mind that we have an aging mare, a treasured family member of 30 + years………..
Much as you know that I ‘curse’ the traffic on Rose Drive, and do continue the neighborhood efforts to improve same——————–our vantage point on the street, surely indicated that emergency services were ‘heading out’ en masse. We, Rose Drive neighbors, probably better than most, realized just how many fire and police were coming to the aid of Yorba Linda residents—————–At one point I counted eleven (11) police cars all in a ‘parade’ go down the street, to assist to the east, not counting the individual vehicles I saw. Fire trucks came by from all over————Modesto, Tulare, Lodi, Fairfield, to just note a few, as well as heavy fire equipment—————-Forest Service, you name it, we saw it……………..Truly, and perhaps an odd way to say it————–it was ‘refreshing’ to know that Yorba Linda had so much help. We truly were not alone in this battle against fire………….
The ‘curse of the street,’ was the number of ‘looky-loos’ out here, one right after the other———traffic was horrid, and with all the emergency vehicles using the street, I found ‘this quirk’ of human nature rather disgusting, and I suspect it was even worse on the east side. About midnight Sat., as the neighbors gathered to watch if the two fires were going to join————–the ‘looky loos’ came in droves………to the point that they were ‘desiring an even closer look see’ and coming onto Blake, parking to get a better look and take their photos—————–families of them———Mom and Pop, and all the kids, in their ‘jamies.’ AND in the middle of the night!!!!!!!! They were in such numbers that Blake was becoming a real problem, as neighbors on the back road/Merienda were having their evacuation route totally blocked. A call to the PD, and frankly we were told, they did not have the personnel to help us. Okay, and right or wrong—————-we, as a neighborhood, blocked off Blake to any traffic, and turned people away———–many were just most unhappy with us, but so be it. We kept an evacuation route open.
At about 3 AM on Sunday, I sort of began to lose track of time, perhaps at 2:45 AM my neighbor called to say that the Canyon ‘was in trouble,’ and yes, it was ‘flaming’—–a transformer went out, and we lost electricity, by 3 AM police were here and suggesting a voluntary evacuation was most likely…………….I did call neighbors whose phone numbers were committed to memory, as my Rolex and laptop, had long prior been stored for just such an evacuation event…..within minutes of those calls, a police officer was going door to door to confirm the voluntary evacuation orders. And within just a few more minutes, police cars with bull horns were giving the ‘mandatory notice.’ Am not sure just when, I called my daughters to come and help us, and they did arrive in a timely manner.
It’s a go!!!!!!!!!!!! None of the horse owners here have trailers, we are not show folks, and with good riding areas so close there is no need————-thus there were about 10-12 horses to be evacuated……..As directed, I headed to the Stater Bros. parking lot at Rose/Imperial for further direction, with my gelding, leaving my daughter and a son-in-law here with our aging mare, as she simply is not up ‘walking that distance’ and figured I’d see what alternative I had for her. The rest of my family———got our two dogs, and one cat loaded up, and they headed out…………..I believe that most neighbors here did leave at least one or two family members on their properties, not sure about that, tho’.
Sort of out of order————–but part of the story———–with our aging mare————my daughter’s horse….I have to admire and publicly mention————I overheard my daughter speak to another neighbor, quizzing him to see if he had a gun…………it was her intent, to do as much as she could to save the mare, but if it all went ‘belly up’ she was prepared to shoot the mare so that she would not suffer. That part of the story brings me close to tears.
En route to the staging area with my gelding, mentally I had a picture that I would be standing for perhaps some long time with a hyped up horse awaiting transportation out—————WOW, what a shock and pleasant surprise…………………several horse trailers were waiting for us. I filled out the necessary paperwork, and immediately loaded my horse, and ‘poof’ he was off to somewhere in Huntington Beach. I was really impressed, and I do recall us, at some point in the day, telling some official that IF we had to be evacuated we would be needing trailers for the horses……………….in all of this———somebody really listened and passed the words. Hats off to them.
I did, in the staging area, find out that they would indeed bring a trailer to the house to take out our mare. However, with a ‘family discussion’ and given the distance the horses were being trailered———-it was decided that we would ‘tough it out’ in our neighbor’s yard with her, and pray for the best.
Thankfully, our neighborhood was spared any damage. And we returned to our intact homes, and we were lucky……………Jan, I guess the point of my story, perhaps—————Yorba Linda has experienced so much growth in recent years, and just a guess, with many folks sort of new to this area, and perhaps not even thinking about the danger of fires in our beautiful, rural type environment……….and altho’ I am fully aware of the speed that this fire traveled, little could have been done to prevent some of the devastation——-sad, but a fact…………..I do believe that, even if there were flaws in fighting the fires…………..much needs to be done in ‘education’ and having a ‘fire mind-set’ and a plan of action in your head……………..this will happen again, without a doubt—————and my point———-I honestly did believe that my family had a plan of long standing, stuck to it, and did the best we could——————it is all about preparedness………(AND we are in an earthquake area!!!!!!!!!!!! A quick preparedness hint————in the white pages of our phone books is an excellent ‘first aid guide.’ When I was teaching, at about this time of year, when new phone books are being distributed————-some of the homework that I assigned my students——-to remove those first aid pages from the old phone book, and urge their parents to place same into a family earthquake kit.)
My personal thanks to the fire fighters, the police, the City, and ever so many others for their services to come to the aid of the residents during this fire time………….THANKS TO ALL.
Nanc Stevens 
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It is with great pride, appreciation, and respect that I wish to inform you of a group of Yorba Linda’s greatest heroes. This group was single-handedly responsible for the survival of so many homes on Dorinda and Agua streets during the devastation od November 15. They were left alone to fight the wildfires in this region surrounded on both sides by open canyons filled with dense vegatation and oil wells, as the professional firefighters were deployed elsewhere. This group utilized garden hoses, shovels, picks, buckets, and selfless determination to extinguish fires and save property along both sides of Dorinda and the end of Agua streets.
Despite great personal danger, these ten men acted swiftly and courageously to save many homes of neighbors they did not know. After witnessing the damage first-hand on Sunday, I am amazed that any structures were spared in this area. I invite you all to vist upper Dorinda and appreciate what these citizens were able to achieve. These “Dorinda Heroes” have not sought any thanks or recognition for themselves, but as one of many thankful Yorba Linda citizens, I feel that their efforts should be recognized and celebrated by all of us. Please join me in honoring the “Dorinda Heroes:”
Jason Perez Justin Perez
Rob James Taylor James
Bill Nugent Rob Long
Paul Fredrickson Paul Haaker
Brandon Haaker Sal Adamo
With great appreciation,
Mark Allen
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A note of a different hero. A hero who still came after the fire was gone. A hero to help avert the second tragedy that could have been. The city had it\’s hands full preparing all the hillsides for the potential mudslides. But for some of us, we had the same amount of risks on private hillsides that led to our backyards, pools and homes, I am one of those that happens to live in Hidden Hills.
Brandon Maldonado, a Yorba Linda Resident and owner of Maldonado Tile and Marble in Fullerton, took the bull by the horns on Tuesday Nov. 25. He had many of his employees at the disaster relief center working on filling sand and gravel bags for at least 8 hours. This was while he and 2 other of his employees drove around Yorba Linda in his company flatbed truck delivering sandbags to homeowners to protect their properties. He not only delivered but he and the employees with him helped put them in place. Understandably the city was allowing so many sandbags per resident, 50 to be exact. But our property needed at least 200 to sandbag the hill in my backyard. Brandon didn\’t hesitate and went to a building supply and bought them and delivered them to us.
I just wanted to thank him for everything he did, it truly helped a hill stay intact when that torrential rain came on Thanksgiving Day. I believe he and his employees are other kind of heroes that this city should be so proud of.
Terri Hulse
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Heroes Names You Have Sent In:
Kevin Sorrells
Jim Heckel
Jim Isoda
Frank Kitchen
DeeDee Friedrick
Stephanie Brady
Cindy Rex
Mike Padget
Brian Hollingsworth
Brendon Hollingsworth
Taylor Hollingsworth
Mr Pollard
Terry Kilker
Dave Smith
Alan Liberatore
Gustavo Da Silva
Rob James Fullerton PD
Taylor James
Mike Munn OC DA Investigator
Mario Magliano Fullerton PD
Sal Adamo LA Fireman
Jason Perez OC Sheriff
Rob Long OC DA Office
Paul Haaker
Bill Nugent LA Fireman
Brandon Haaker
Paul Fredrickson Huntington Beach Fireman
Marcus Jones
Mark McKay
Trent Morris
Michael Fry
Mark Fry
Bill Etchegaray
Tom Fahrny
Todd Purdue
Larry Goodnough
Vic Lebrun
Dan Meyers LA PD
Garrett Meyers
Matt Barr
Jeff Barr
Dick Sheridan
Trenton Sheridan
Scott McManus Anaheim PD
Tim Miller Anaheim PD
Ken Ryan
Tommy Ryan
Robert Ryan
Dave Stewart
Mark Taylor Santa Ana resident
Robb Block Brea PD
Joseph Winter
Tom Frolick
Terry Wilson
Jim Sherler
Stan Imayanigia
Michael Ferrucci
Ralph Ferrucci
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