There, But For The Grace Of God…
• As you are no doubt aware, Southern California has been ravaged by a series of raging wildfires that have scorched hundreds of thousands of acres of land and destroyed over 1,200 structures, most of them people’s homes. RAMP‘s own Steve Resnik came within mere moments of becoming yet another tragic statistic as one of these monster wildfires, this one dubbed the “Creek Fire,” cut a path of destruction through his neighborhood, setting trees and homes on fire. “Oni and I came within minutes of losing our home,” Steve said. By way of dramatic illustration, Oni managed to take this photo out of their dining room window as she and Steve frantically packed possessions into duffel bags and loaded up the car.
“Half the trees on the property, the wood fence on the side of the house, our pool furniture and much more were ablaze in minutes,” he said. “The wind was gusting as high as 80mph, and you couldn’t see 20 feet because the smoke was so thick. After putting out two fires on our wooden deck that would have easily spread to the house, we gave up. The fire was too close and we were convinced that the house would soon be gone.”
Steve and Oni packed the car and tried to leave, but found their driveway was blocked by all the fire equipment. “The firemen instructed us to go back into the house, and told us if the house started burning, we were to come down and sit in the fire truck. We went back into the house and found that two more fires had broken out on the wood deck. Thankfully, we were able to put those out,” he said, adding, “The firemen came back every hour for the next 15 hours, until 3am, putting out additional fires that sprung up from the burning embers blowing everywhere.”
Looking back, Steve is convinced that it was a “blessing in disguise” that they were unable evacuate. “If we had been allowed to leave, the fires on our deck would most certainly have led to the house being destroyed. It was bad enough that we lost two houses on our block, including the house right next door. But our house was spared,” he said. “My collection is still intact. Our dogs are still alive and Oni and I are grateful to God.” Your good wishes can be shared with Steve at the45king@aol.com.
