Room at the inn - El Toro High School houses Fallbrook evacuees

With smoke and ash already in the air, when the evacuation orders came, Fallbrook residents took flight. They spread out to the north, the south, the east and the west. Some stayed with friends or relatives and some fled to hotels or the nearest Red Cross shelter.

One of those shelters was headquartered at El Toro High School (ETHS) in the south Orange County community of Lake Forest, where a colorful sign proclaimed, “Welcome to ETHS – Our Home is Your Home.” Approximately eighty percent of the evacuees housed at the high school were from the Fallbrook area.

Ash was drifting from the sky like dry snowflakes as I spoke with Lin Craft of Fallbrook just outside the school’s gymnasium. She was alerted with a “Reverse 9-1-1” call at 11:30 a.m. on Monday, October 22, which gave her time to evacuate.

Craft told me she was elated because she just received word today (October 25) that her home survived the fire. She also said that after receiving the good news she was able to focus on helping others find out about the status of their homes.

She went to work searching various Web sites and was able to find information about a friend’s home located at Valley Oaks, a mobile home park on Reche Road in Fallbrook. Craft’s friend was elated when she was told that her home was still intact. Earlier in the week, because of inaccurate information, this friend had believed that all of the homes at Valley Oaks had been destroyed.

Jane Butler had just flown into San Diego from San Antonio at one o’clock on Monday afternoon when she heard the news about the fire. The elderly woman then drove to her Fallbrook home to retrieve diabetes medication and to search for her cat, Oscar. Butler called for Oscar, but he never appeared.

“The wind was strong and the smoke was black and I knew I had to leave,” she said. “I am worried about my cat – by now his food and water have run out.”

This was Butler’s first evacuation experience and, other than the situation with her cat, she noted that it was not as bad as she had expected. She was “very impressed” with the volunteers and others from the Lake Forest community. Butler also mentioned that “the Red Cross people are so helpful and a team of paramedics even check on us.”

Peggy Himrich of Fallbrook, who attends Zion Lutheran Church, was sustained during this tense situation by her Christian faith. Sitting on a cot, which was propped up against the gymnasium bleachers, her eyes sparkled as she told me how she placed her home in God’s hands. “When I left my home I prayed over it and turned it over to the Lord and said, ‘Lord, take care of my home.’”

This woman, who is in her eighties, also sang the praises of the Red Cross volunteers. “I have been taken care of here,” she said with a smile.

One Fallbrook woman who was sobbing uncontrollably said that she had just reached her breaking point. She had been wearing the same clothes for four days and just wanted to go home.

Sitting on a cot in the middle of a gymnasium with hundreds of other people and wondering when you will be allowed to return home, is a stress level all its own. Wondering if you have a home to return to kicks the stress level up several more notches.

El Toro High School’s main gymnasium was lined with cots situated in family groups and spaced in such a manner that people had a bit of privacy. Inside the school’s smaller gymnasium, volunteers had games going to entertain the children.

The evacuees were able to take showers in the locker rooms but also allowed to shower at the local YMCA if they preferred. One woman said she opted for the YMCA because it was “more private.”

Breakfast, lunch and dinner were provided, in part, by local restaurants. The shelter was also equipped with a Verizon Internet and cell phone recharging station. More than one person mentioned how their cell phone was their “lifeline.”

The evacuees were given socks, over-the-counter pain relievers, lip balm, hand cream, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, washcloths and towels.

There was also water available – plenty of water. In fact, one Red Cross volunteer told me that they had received so much water that they were beginning to reject any further donations.

A pet center with cages for large dogs, small cats and everything in-between made a lot of the four-footed evacuees fairly comfortable. The cages were full of mostly warm-blooded family pets, with the exception of one cold-blooded guest – a large snake. Volunteers from a local store provided pet food, cat litter pans and even some green grass for the feline gourmets.

Even though most of the evacuees were pleased with the care at the Red Cross shelter, on the fourth day of their evacuation, Fallbrook area residents were looking forward to moving beyond the El Toro High School gymnasium walls and getting on with their lives.