Girl and Fire
The phone rang last night at 10:40. Too early for a drunk calling with a nasty proposition (that actually happened not long ago) but too late even for my mother, a notorious night owl who is known to call at my bedtime.
It was almost-19-year-old Kit, our freshman, calling from Occidental College in Eagle Rock, California. My regular CA. readers know where that is — for those of you who don’t, Eagle Rock is a little hamlet tucked into a nook between Los Angeles and Pasadena.
Due to the wonder of cell phones, we talk at least once each day. But this did not bode well.
Kit: “Hi Mom.”
Me: “Hi. What’s wrong? Are you OK?”
Kit: “The fire is about two miles away from campus right now. They told us we might get evacuated during the night. But it would have to keep moving down the hills and jump at least one big freeway to get to us. So don’t worry.”
Me: (Very calm-sounding, of course) “Oh, I’m not worried. Well, I’m a little worried. Fire can move fast, you know. If they come to evacuate you, don’t ask questions. Don’t stop for anything. Just go.”
The truth is, I had been busy on deadline at work all day and somehow hadn’t heard or read anything about the fire in L.A.’s Griffith Park, which was spreading like, well, like wildfire into the Hollywood Hills. During our phone conversation I quickly turned on CNN, where I watched flames leapining skyward and heard the reporter talking ominously about the possibility the fire would reach the Griffith Observatory and the landmark “HOLLYWOOD” sign. (I flipped through The Salt Lake Tribune this morning looking for even a single-paragraph blurb about the fire — not one word. Not even deep inside the national section. That Calfiornia fire story–it’s just so not local.)
Back in October 1991, one of Ted’s best friends was killed while desperately trying to escape the wind-whipped flames of the infamous Oakland Hills Firestorm. It was world-class mountain climber and author Leigh Ortenburger, one of 25 killed in the fire, which spread through several cities before firefighters got it under control. Ted and Leigh became close friends when the two worked summers as Exum guides in the Tetons, and also as rescue rangers. Bonds of friendship form easily when you’re working as a team, levering injured people off the Grand Teton and neighboring peaks.
The story of Leigh’s death is chilling. He was lunching with two friends in the Oakland Hills when an evacuation order came. Winds up to 65 mph were spreading the flames phenomenally fast. One of the friends survived; Leigh and another did not. It was a great loss. In 1996, A Climber’s Guide to the Teton Range by Leigh and fellow climber and Teton Park ranger Reynold (Rennie) G. Jackson was published. The book is considered the most comprehensive guide to Teton climbing and includes all kinds of information related to the area’s climate, geology and mountaineering history.
I raise all that in part to convince myself how serious fire is. I’ve never had to fight one, or escape one or witness its damage to anything I own or any person I love. I slept fitfully last night. No further word from Kit, either. A good sign. And I fell asleep whispering a prayer: “please keep her safe, please keep her safe.”
Kit did tell me last night that she felt remarkably calm compared to some of her dormmates who were nearly hysterical. She thinks she knows why. We lived in Fort Worth, Texas when she was very young. From the time Kit was age three to age 10, we regularly took cover in our home from tornadoes — or at least predicted tornadoes. She and her younger brother, Sam, remember the time we all huddled in the main hall of our classic Texas rambler (no basement) because it had no exterior windows. Their dad and I made them put on their bike helmets. The twister did, indeed, sound like a freight train. We heard a crash, but stayed put till the wind and noise stopped and it was eerily quiet.
When we walked into the kitchen, a hailstone the size of a toaster was on the floor, surrounded by shattered glass. The thing had crashed right through the skylight. Outside, aging pin oak trees were uprooted like toys. Our roof shingles had been torn off like paper. Thankfully, no one in the area had been injured.
“I think all that practice during tornadoes is helping me now, Mom,” Kit said.
May 9th, 2007 at 7:28 am
I have a close relative who lives on Pioneer Fork Rd. in Emigration Canyon. Now if that`s not a natural firetrap I`ve never seen one. A constant worry.
Leigh Ortenburger was an icon…along with Steve Roper and Allen Steck he represented the best of that generation. Bizarre death, like Galen & Barbara Rowell in the plane crash near Bishop Ca.
May 9th, 2007 at 10:23 am
Holly,
Please remember I’m less than an hour away from the Oxy campus and I gave you my phone numbers previously. Don’t hesitate to call for anything.
Larry
May 9th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Thanks, Larry… I just spoke to Kit. I woke her up from a post final exam nap! The fire is mostly contained (you Californians already know this) and people have gone back to their houses. Except of course, those who have houses. Kit says there are likely to be several dead transients who make their camps in the hills. Sad.
May 9th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
…I meant those who have NO houses.
May 9th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Holly:
I’m so glad that Kit is ok. How frightening. My sister Renee lives in Oakland, and almost had to leave her home in ‘91. Also, while living in San Diego, I remember rushing to pick up Blythe from k-garden because the wild fires were approaching her school. It is amazing how fast they start and spread. One minute, it is a beautiful Southern Cal day, the next minute, you see smoke.
Now, after leaving S. Carolina and hurricane country, I am trying to learn how to deal with tornadoes.
Godspeed.
Shelley
May 9th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
Shelley:
This is not kosher in blogging etiquette, but will you send me your phone number and e-mail address again? (holly@mullentown.com) I can’t find any of that info–neither what you sent me, nor what my mom gave me!I want to call you.
May 10th, 2007 at 7:34 am
It never ceases to amaze me the stories that The Trib seems to think are important while the rest of the country/world calamaties go unnoticed - and unreported.
I’m glad that you have so many friends in California that are willing to help out if needed. Prayers for safety go out for your daughter.
May 10th, 2007 at 8:59 am
The Trib is covering it today, at least online. And the DNews covered the fires yesterday. Don’t know if the stories were in the print editions, since I only read them online.
May 11th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
I read your feeble column in the weekly. Are you ever going to grow up? God, what an amateurish piece of crap. American children are dying by the hundreds in Iraq - almost 3,400 - and you write about nonsense. What is wrong with you? You are feeble or stupid. Do you know what’s important? Get with it and write about what matters. Judas Priest, what does it take to get good journalism in this town?
May 12th, 2007 at 5:22 am
ttstark,
You obviously are a complete ASS. Why not take your drivel / garbage to another site ?
Maybe you enjoy the scorn your comments generate…that`s called masochism.
May 12th, 2007 at 7:32 am
ttstark is a study in irony. He/she sets himself as a critic of Holly but where is his/her anonymous voice on the war? Did he/she speak out and sign it by name? And why does he/she spend his/her obviously precious time reading her column? Was he/she marching on the Pentagon in March or downtown SLC?
I propose that those of us who love Holly and what she stands for just ignore this person. There is a lot to be said for the practice of shunning. He/she is irrelevant in his/her anonymous existence.
May 13th, 2007 at 1:48 am
I am really glad Kit is okay, Holly. You hang in there. There is actually some good journalism in this town. And, trust me, there are lots of things I can’t freakin’ stand about it. :)
May 14th, 2007 at 7:04 am
Actually, I have a different take on ttstark. Holly’s a professional who has to expect this sort of criticism from time to time. My students say much worse about me on my course evaluations and I’ve come to accept it. It comes with the territory.
However, ttstark’s timing is flat out creepy and suggestive of psychopathology. Let Holly have when she’s not worried about her girl! Judas Priest, what does it take to get some class in this town?
Get help, ttstark! Do you have no friends who let you know that you’re being a total douchebag?
Glad to hear Kit is okay, Holly:-).
May 15th, 2007 at 4:36 am
ttstark…”American children are dying by the hundreds in Iraq - almost 3,400 - and you write about nonsense. What is wrong with you? You are feeble or stupid. Do you know what’s important? Get with it and write about what matters”
So tell us ttstark, WHAT are YOU doing about the hundreds of dying children in Iraq? Waiting for Holly to take the lead? Why not open up your own blog,if you haven’t already and suggest some positive solutions. Or are you feeble,stupid and full of nonsense?