00:00:00.680 - 00:00:35.419

All right. There we go. So how I found out is Natalie Simon was volunteering for us and she was the overnight person. Ok. And the lights went out at Stone House and she could see flames on the hills of Linol Valley. So she called me about

00:00:35.430 - 00:00:59.139

two o'clock in the morning. The wind was blowing like crazy. And she said, I think you better get here. It's uh you know, it, the flames are getting really close, the police are out on the street. The traffic was the traffic, it was starting to back

00:00:59.150 - 00:01:15.069

up. So she was getting worried that they would get stuck. I remember that part when she called us. She's so she said that uh she talked to the police officers that were trying to navigate the, the traffic and he said you guys should probably get out

00:01:15.080 - 00:01:36.769

of here. So I threw on some clothes and I was coming from park. And so I went up over Crane Canyon Road and there were literally flames on both sides of me. It was, and I was like, ok, we can do this, we can get there,

00:01:36.779 - 00:01:57.319

we can get there. And I just thought I'm just gonna keep driving, just gonna fucking keep driving. So what did work out really well is that I was driving into the situation not out of. So I, so I managed to get to Stonehouse because all of

00:01:57.330 - 00:02:13.410

the traffic was trying to leave Lincoln Valley. So I had some trouble at the U turn there at Brush Creek because there were so many cars and the police were there and they were trying to, um, and so I had to tell him I'm trying to

00:02:13.419 - 00:02:36.529

get to the stonehouse, I'm the director. So I got there, um, you know, kind of went through what we're used to doing in an emergency was take pictures of the boards so that I knew we had all the clients. Um, we had already decided who was

00:02:36.539 - 00:02:50.110

gonna drive where, who had license, who had driver and who's gonna, so we had to before Sylvia got there, I think I helped her do that decide. So that way. So we wouldn't have to like, worry about like who's gonna go where? So everybody was just

00:02:50.119 - 00:03:09.029

kind of ready to get. They were all out in the parking lot waiting for me. Yeah. So we loaded up the two vans, one of them actually drove my personal car and, and then somebody else had their car there with a driver's license and they used

00:03:09.039 - 00:03:35.179

their car loaded up their car. So we took the first load to, to the Vets building which is where everybody was going. And then we left um one of the senior residents sort of in charge of just keeping everybody together and then we drove back with

00:03:35.190 - 00:03:51.179

the fans to get the rest of them. We had to make one more trip or maybe that was just me, I think it was just me. Natalie stayed with the clients at the vets building and I went back to the last load of women that were

00:03:51.190 - 00:04:17.570

at the stone house. Um So we, we got everybody over there and it was absolute chaos and I remember that nobody had any idea what was going on. And there was this little elderly lady who had one of those wind up ham radios, an emergency ham

00:04:17.579 - 00:04:35.959

radio, which don't, you know, Cynthia and I bought some after that, we were like, ok, we need those from now on. Um And she was the only one who had any information about what was going on and how it was spreading. I actually still have a

00:04:35.970 - 00:05:01.500

picture somewhere I think of. Um I was standing in the back parking lot when the sun finally came up and it was me and Misty uh Missy, the one that we both, no, no, Misty, the one blonde kind of large. She went and worked for the

00:05:01.510 - 00:05:28.279

post office and it was a picture of the back of her and the entire sky was just black and clouds and there was barely any light able to even come through. And we just, we stayed there and Cynthia and Eric and myself were in constant communication.

00:05:28.640 - 00:05:49.769

Um And so we just, we stayed on, on, you know, we just got everybody into cots. Um We made sure we had all the medication. So Cynthia must have told Natalie get everybody's medication. So in addition to who had driver's licenses, Cynthia had already told Natalie

00:05:49.779 - 00:06:10.750

what to gather up, which was everybody's medication because I remember then we were like, ok, we kind of set up a situation to make sure everybody got their meds. Um, and everybody, and then at that point finally, you know, by the time the light sun was

00:06:10.760 - 00:06:26.940

coming out, Red Cross had come in with cots for people to just sort of be in. And then, um, I don't know if it was that day or the next day they moved us across the street to the fairgrounds. It was that day. It was later

00:06:26.950 - 00:06:42.600

that day because we was, it Eric and I came in that day, but later in the afternoon when they opened the road, is that when that happened? Um, because you were already at the vets building when we got there. Yeah, I'm not sure if it was

00:06:42.609 - 00:06:59.519

that day. No, it was the next day because I remember trying to sleep that one night with Lindsay and Pat were there. And, uh, that's when I had been drinking rock stars like a crazy person. Um, so I had actually, yeah, I was alone that night

00:06:59.589 - 00:07:16.559

with all of them. I don't even remember how many we had. I think it might have been like 28. Right. Because more, it was more, yeah, because think about it, we had the two vans plus two cars and then I had to go back again. Probably.

00:07:16.570 - 00:07:38.070

We were probably on our, our like 35. Maybe we lost that whole section. We did. We had like when you walk into the main pavilion, we have a whole back left corner, like that whole area and halfway down by the rest by the restrooms were all

00:07:38.079 - 00:07:58.480

just us, just you guys just us. Yeah. And so, um that, yeah, so it was there overnight. So I see. So two o'clock in the morning, we're there the next day and then I stayed that night with them. Um, and then the next day, Eric and

00:07:58.489 - 00:08:26.660

Cynthia came and we kind of set up a table situation over there. Um, had our laptops, um, phone chargers. We, we, we, we set up like an office and, um, and, you know, had meds and um, so that's when, so Cynthia started calling task and, you

00:08:26.670 - 00:08:44.299

know, we had to inform the county that we were ok. We had everyone accounted for, um, we had to do, you know, probation, you know, because we had to make sure. And then we were all using our own cell phones to allow clients to contact their

00:08:44.309 - 00:09:06.130

families to let them know that they were ok. So that really like the first day. So that wasn't the first day that, so that, that second day, which was our first day at the fairgrounds, um, was really just about, ok, what's this look like? And, um,

00:09:07.419 - 00:09:32.289

so we did that, um, and I remember that we conducted, even, we conducted a, a group that day, um, outside, um, just to, you know, kind of get a baseline of things. And then, um, I remember that on that second day, we started getting scared because

00:09:32.299 - 00:09:45.799

the fire was still coming and we thought we were gonna have to leave the fairgrounds because you know where the cemetery is up on the hill. I, for some reason, I don't know if it was the smoke but we started getting scared. We were gonna have

00:09:45.809 - 00:10:00.965

to move. Yeah, because it was, the smoke was, there was a fire over the hill behind us in an Yeah. And so they weren't sure if we're going to have to evacuate then at that point, that is the game for us to see at that point

00:10:00.974 - 00:10:16.409

too. Yeah. And then it became a hub for, you know, all the disaster services and the sheriff and everything and the TV. S the, all the news stations were there. They had like a whole set up outside the back area of the fairgrounds where they were

00:10:16.419 - 00:10:34.390

doing regular updates and reports live from there. And then, um I think, isn't that when we had to call task and task started leaving because we weren't sure if we're gonna have to leave again. They asked, they said that certain individuals could leave. But as long

00:10:34.400 - 00:10:51.164

as we saw that that was taking that that's what was happening. And so that's what started happening next was that we had the list of clients and we were getting agreements from task. Um I remember that that's when Christina left and never came back. Um So,

00:10:51.174 - 00:11:08.145

you know, a lot of we lost a lot of clients that went home to their families. We met the families, the families came in but clients just, you know, took off, I think a couple came back, some came back when we were able to finally return,

00:11:08.155 - 00:11:28.820

but we lost probably at least 10 people in, in all of that and we were having them call us every day to check in and make sure they were, you know, um But when I came back for them to return the program, they didn't. No, I

00:11:29.059 - 00:11:45.309

mean, you think it's almost the perfect recipe, you know, why would I be doing what I should be doing when this is happening around us? So yeah, it felt, it honestly felt like the whole world was coming in on us. Yeah. And then it was really

00:11:45.320 - 00:12:09.580

cool because the community came together in a way that I had never witnessed before. Like they came in and there was like a whole quarter of the pavilion where they had clothes and socks and underwear and, um, because phone chargers because everybody left in the middle

00:12:09.590 - 00:12:30.140

of the night with nothing. Wow, we didn't yet know how to have a go bag ready. This was two o'clock in the morning when this completely crazy situation happened and everybody was wearing what they were wearing and had nothing. So at that point, uh, so we

00:12:30.150 - 00:12:51.690

didn't have access to the Stone house for probably three days. And then, um, I went back, I think it might have been with or somebody. It was me and I was with you when we went back because we took the girls back to pick up some

00:12:51.710 - 00:13:14.260

clothing. That's right. And it so bad. Oh, my God. It just, all you could smell was smoke. We couldn't go back because the gas, everything was off and, yeah, none of that kind of business. And, um, it still wasn't fully contained. But, yeah, we were able

00:13:14.270 - 00:13:27.169

to at least go back and get underwear and stuff like that. They all got a little bag a little, you know, those little, half the size of that to bring just a few little items with them until they were able to set up over there and

00:13:27.179 - 00:13:44.380

they were able to get a little bit more and then they took more than they should have probably had bags. Yeah, that's, I know they left the fairground with a lot more than they gave. Oh, but they were helping too, you know, they, they were volunteering

00:13:44.849 - 00:14:11.020

and, yeah, the girls were really stepping up and volunteering. Yeah, they were doing clean up. They were helping the elderly. They were, some of them really got into the whole volunteering thing. It was really cool. Um, yeah, then, um, folks from the fellowship came in, brought

00:14:11.030 - 00:14:38.479

meetings, the N A girls came, brought meetings in. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. So it was, it was really incredible. I mean, I was super proud of the girls. We definitely all bonded in a, in a, a completely different way because we were experiencing a traumatic event with

00:14:38.489 - 00:15:03.679

all of them and, but I tell you that those first, like 24 to 48 hours that I didn't get any sleep when drinking too many Red Bulls, the clients were really gracious. Yeah. They were really pretty amazing in the beginning. Um, you know, until the behaviors

00:15:03.690 - 00:15:21.679

came out later, but they were pretty amazing in the beginning. I mean, there were obviously a few because there were so many of them, there were a few that were, you know, were all there. Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, like, you know, and we

00:15:21.690 - 00:15:36.340

had some that were, you know, manipulating to try to go home and, you know, like we had some that probation said absolutely not. Ok. So they, they were, you know, too, I think that was part of it, they saw some of their peers leave and they

00:15:36.489 - 00:15:52.460

were, and they were. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, wow. I took him to the movies and I take them to the movies too during that time. You guys did. I remember seeing something on social media and that was also with Lindsay and with Patrick, as I could see

00:15:52.469 - 00:16:09.419

Patrick. And the, that's right on the movie. We took him to the movie. Oh, my God. That I know to kind of get them away for a little bit. Oh, my gosh. I completely forgot about that to the movies for a little bit. We got them

00:16:09.429 - 00:16:30.599

some ice cream or something afterwards. Yeah, because it was just to break it up a little bit. Yeah, it was a lot to just be sitting around and, um, feel pretty powerless and, you know, when you're supposed to be in a situation where you're safe, um,

00:16:31.280 - 00:16:52.059

you know, to heal and, and to work on yourself and suddenly you're, you know, just ripped away from all of that and, you know, in a situation where you don't know what's next. Yeah, that was such a great idea. It was a really good idea to

00:16:52.070 - 00:17:05.849

get them out of it. No, something, some type of, like, like something like something so normal, you know, that we take for granted, which could just be so huge in a position like that. Something like that. Yeah. And they were having fun. They laughed they were

00:17:05.859 - 00:17:23.770

joking, they were making faces. They were just, I remember we went for walks to the other end of the fairgrounds to, because, um, you know, so many animals had come in and, yeah. Oh, yeah. The animals I forgot about that. They were restoring them there too.

00:17:24.140 - 00:17:43.630

Yeah. Oh, it's like, what with horses and everything? And then did you have to Eva yours too or? So, at that time my horse was in Ohio Road so my horse was saved. It was the second fire that I had to evacuate my horse. And it's

00:17:43.640 - 00:17:58.520

just so weird to say the second fire, you know, I mean, who would have ever thought? And that was horrible. That was, I don't even know what time that was. That was late at night. We drove to the, that was a whole other thing. I'm not

00:17:58.530 - 00:18:18.140

gonna go down that rabbit hole. I remember sitting in the target parking lot with my mom in the horse trailer and we had three horses in there because we just loaded up whoever was on the ranch and the fairgrounds was full. You remember that anyway? But

00:18:18.150 - 00:18:37.979

that's a different fire. Yeah. Is there anything else that you wanted to add? Cynthia about when you found out? Well, it was just really at the moment when, um, Natalie was calling, you know, just trying to make sure that she was just her and then I

00:18:37.989 - 00:18:51.680

had to get, get her to have some senior clients help her, you know, because I had to show her where the keys were to get the keys for the cars and, you know, certain things that we needed, you know, and she was panicking access to the

00:18:51.689 - 00:19:05.819

safe all of it, you know. And so, um, and she was so scared because you could see, I mean, she, she kept saying it's coming, I see it. I was so close, you know, and I just felt for her, you know, and then was calling because

00:19:05.829 - 00:19:15.410

at one point you were afraid you were gonna be able to get over and I was like, well, we're gonna have to get them out of there, you know. So that was, it was a little stress. I must have called you when I was driving through

00:19:15.420 - 00:19:30.729

the fire in the Grand Canyon. Like, I don't know if I can gonna fucking make it. Yeah, I remember that and I'm thinking, oh, fuck, I know. And, and I couldn't get over, you know, neither her or Eric, like they couldn't get there. Yeah. Yeah. Well,

00:19:30.739 - 00:19:48.650

I think Eric had his kids but you, the streets she couldn't get there because she went over and then jumped, you know, and they had closed everything and people from, from, I guess from airport all the way down were having to travel north to get away.

00:19:48.660 - 00:20:05.369

And um, yeah, and everybody from here was traveling up that way. Wow. You know, so I, I mean, for me, it was more about making sure that Natalie was prepared to get the hell out of there so he couldn't get there. Right. See, and it's why

00:20:05.380 - 00:20:19.430

I'm thinking about Natalie, which I didn't know is because I had my baby shower the day before and Natalie was with me and so I had the baby shower. I had a family in town and then I was hanging out with Natalie and then I woke

00:20:19.439 - 00:20:34.260

up, you know, at 6 a.m. in Windsor, you know, after everything had already started. So just to be hearing this more and then from Natalie, like after one of the best days, you know, of me celebrating, you know, my unborn son and all of this transpired

00:20:34.270 - 00:20:50.619

afterwards and how many lives, you know, change. It was just um you know, and just to hear like you guys say this about Natalie too, like it just, it blows me away, it blows me away. She was, she was absolutely amazing considering how scared she was.

00:20:50.630 - 00:21:12.170

She was just like powering through her and she stayed with me until Cynthia could be there. Yeah. Yeah, I remember and the other thing that why that point in time will stay with me forever is the day before the fire started was the day that our

00:21:12.180 - 00:21:39.069

former CEO that I was really close to died October 7th. He died of an aneurysm in the middle of the night. Literally 24 hours later, the fires was, yeah, it was like, wow. Yeah, it was, it was quite something. Yeah. Here you go. Yeah. Yeah. I

00:21:39.079 - 00:22:00.969

think the worst part of it was the fact that our corporation really wasn't supporting us. Our company. Ok. Yeah. She brought some underwear and socks for the girls, like, four days later. And we were like, yeah. Yeah, that, that was, we had more support from Red

00:22:00.979 - 00:22:18.979

Cross and the rest of the community that showed up to donate strangers than we did from our own agency. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. That was, I think that was the hardest for us. But you know, we knew it was, we just stuck together and we did what

00:22:18.989 - 00:22:37.319

we could, you know. Um But you know, it was, there were all lessons learned and we were taught so much from that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then you learn a lot and then I was gonna say then with that, can you tell me about any strengths

00:22:37.329 - 00:23:02.579

that you discovered through this experience that you can just like think of strings that you pulled out? I, I think that um for me, one of the strengths was that I can sometimes be a reactive person. I know that comes as a shock to you, but

00:23:06.819 - 00:23:30.119

none of that really like I, I just showed up. I mean, I just, I just did what I had to do and I kept my wits about me. I wasn't freaking out. I wasn't, I wasn't super reactive. I just, I knew that everybody was scared. I

00:23:30.130 - 00:23:52.030

was scared. Um, I don't know, I just knew it would be ok and that we would get it that, that we would get everybody through that. So I, I learned that I perform well under pressure. I mean, I think I knew that anyway, but I think

00:23:52.040 - 00:24:17.260

that I have a pretty good head on my shoulders when it comes to emergencies and disasters. I, I learned that about myself. I also learned that it was terrifying to not have my Cynthia with me when I needed her. Oh, oh, yeah, that for me was

00:24:17.270 - 00:24:34.020

probably the hardest knowing that I couldn't be there for them. I'm just gonna say that. But I thought, yeah, so that was, that was the hardest, you know, that I had to like pull back and just say, fuck, I can't do anything other than support them

00:24:34.030 - 00:24:52.599

in however other way I could by communicating with them on a regular basis, you know. Um, but also I learned that I, you know, even in disasters, I was able to kind of keep my cold, you know, just to kind of just gather my bearings and,

00:24:52.609 - 00:25:07.540

and, and tell Natalie this is exactly what I need you to do, you know. So, um, that was one of my strengths I think just being, yeah, definitely. It's always one of her strength. She, I don't know what the hell she's talking about, but there was,

00:25:08.140 - 00:25:25.280

yeah, there's no panic. She knew exactly what needed to be done and have it ready and have it ready in case. Yeah, I just, when I got there, so she's on the phone with Natalie. She's on the phone with me. Wow. What a team, I mean,

00:25:25.290 - 00:25:46.479

what a team you two are, I mean, yeah, but that was the hardest. I think that was, um, not being able to be there at that moment. Yeah. So, yeah, so my strength would be probably being able, I, I guess letting go at that moment. Uh

00:25:47.760 - 00:26:13.729

Yeah, I have to let go. Like things were out of, it was out of my control. Hm. Yeah. Is there anything else that you want me to know to, to better understand what happened or anything that jumps out at you guys? Because right now this is

00:26:13.739 - 00:26:35.739

plenty of information that you guys have given me, you know, plenty of information. I think one of the things that I think that we fared better than maybe other populations because when I'm thinking about what you explained to me about your assignment and how you chose

00:26:35.750 - 00:27:05.540

this population, but there are other people doing other populations is that our population is used to chaos and how to manage in disaster and, or you know, how to manage with nothing. They are resilient and resourceful. Um And I think we may have done better in

00:27:05.550 - 00:27:29.390

that regard than some of the elderly that were there. Um I know that a lot of them felt really helpless and scared um because they didn't have the stability and the structure that they were used to living in. Whereas us and our population is used to

00:27:29.400 - 00:27:52.170

constant change and instability. So they know how to get their needs met better than some of the other populations that were there with us. But I think also the fact that we, once we were all there including Eric and did because he got there too afterwards.

00:27:52.469 - 00:28:07.579

Um they were able to utilize us for the support that they needed because there were some that were freaking out. They were still like, like we, so we said the behaviors were coming out. But the fact that we were there as a team helped support them,

00:28:07.589 - 00:28:27.400

I think that's why they felt so comfortable too and we were with them 24 7. Yeah, I finally went home and sleep for two days. They sent me home and yeah, and then, you know, some of the other ladies came in and did overnight shifts for

00:28:27.410 - 00:28:44.829

us and stuff, but there was always somebody there with them. So I mean, that's alumni, the support of alumni coming in and helping us to come in like Lindsay and yeah, they came in and relieved us to go shower or whatever it is we needed to

00:28:44.839 - 00:29:03.930

do so that we can get back. So that was another aspect of that, that we came and we knew that was there for us and that's incredible. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Well, thanks you guys. I think that's, that's a great. I mean, that's

00:29:03.939 - 00:29:21.630

a lot more. Thanks for the reminder because now we're even deeper into Ring and Valley and you should really, I believe me, I've been thinking about. So don't say I, we don't have fire escapes in every single bedroom in that upstairs house. Oh, yeah. Oh. And

00:29:21.640 - 00:29:35.949

we have to make sure we have a set up. So we, we go, we go south, we're gonna have somewhere to go, somewhere to go. Yeah, we did really well, in the second one we were totally prepared. There we go. Totally prepared. We just need to

00:29:35.959 - 00:29:37.949

find facilities that will take us in.