‘This land's meant to burn': SLO County town is now front line of Gifford Fire fight

Yahoo

2 days ago

The Gifford Fire has inched north day by day toward the town of Santa Margarita — but residents say they don't fear the flames.
Over the past week and a half, the small town has suddenly become a hotspot of activity as fire crews from across California assemble at a nearby emergency fire camp where firefighting efforts are staged.
With nearly 5,000 firefighters currently working to stop the fire — of which around 3,000 are staying in the fire camp — the normally quiet town has seen a flurry of activity, with fire crews and equipment becoming a common sight on El Camino Real as water-dumping helicopters race overhead to douse the flames.
For Santa Margarita resident Shawn Dugan, who formerly worked for Cal Fire as an aerial firefighter, the sight of fire crews rushing to and fro is reassuring in the face of California's largest blaze this year.
Dugan said many of his firefighter friends are facing the 130,000-acre fire and are putting their lives — and their best efforts — on the line to keep it from threatening population centers such as Santa Margarita.
'This land's meant to burn,' Dugan said. 'The guys who do fire control here in California are incredibly intelligent.'
Schools don't expect major disruptions
Dugan, who has two children enrolled at Santa Margarita Elementary School, said he's not worried about the fire's pace, even as its growing smoke plume moves slowly toward the school.
'There's a ton of Cal Fire families here,' Dugan said. 'Cal Fire's simply blue-collar and hardworking and smart, and whatever this community is, it attracts them.'
That sentiment was shared by many parents of Santa Margarita Elementary School students, who were picking up and dropping off their kids for the first day of school during a hectic week of fire-related activity.
Carley Souza, whose children are enrolled in the elementary's transitional kindergarten and first-grade classes, said the advancing fire has created some day-to-day anxiety but hasn't affected school activity much yet.
Aside from disruptions to traffic, Souza said she and her family have welcomed the fire camp's presence near their home.
'Honestly, it's been pretty cool for the kids to watch all of the helicopters,' Souza said. 'Thankfully, we've kind of kept out of their way, so it hasn't impacted us too much.'
Santa Margarita Elementary School Principal Marshawn Porter said she and Atascadero Unified School District Superintendent Tom Bennett are monitoring the fire closely, but they are not immediately concerned that it will pose any threat to the school or town.
Porter said she remembers the last time a wildfire threatened Santa Margarita around 10 years ago, when her child was attending the elementary school.
During that fire, which came all the way up to the boundaries of Santa Margarita, the elementary school delayed its first day of school due to the danger of the 1,000-acre fire, but that's not likely to happen this time, Porter said.
'We would treat it just like a rainy day, and we'd keep the kids in classes because our filtration systems will keep the air quality good in the classrooms,' Porter said. 'If it was so bad that the district needed to take further steps, that would be something that would be decided on by the superintendent and his cabinet.'
Business slows as fire camp grows
In town, even as a column of smoke advances from the south and fire trucks trek back and forth along El Camino Real, it's business as usual for many of the town's shops and restaurants.
The only real change has been the appearance of a pair of pop-up vendors on El Camino Real selling Gifford Fire commemorative merchandise, catering mostly to fire crews looking for a souvenir from their work here.
Holly Rae, owner of vintage clothing and decor store The Giddy Up, said while the stress of being in the path of a wildfire can 'feel crazy,' she's glad to have fire crews so close to keep homes and businesses safe.
Rae's home on the southern outskirts of Santa Margarita is in the fire's path and has been a growing point of stress as the fire grows.
'It's unnerving because you just don't know if the winds are going to shift or whatever,' Rae said. 'I feel really confident that they have tons of experts working on this and people watching this situation, but it's also kind of crazy having to figure out, 'OK, what should I pack up of my life, just in case?''
Though the sudden appearance of thousands of fire crews has been reassuring, she said their presence hasn't made much of a dent in business at her shop and others like it, with the exception of the nearby liquor store where fire crews go to get energy drinks, water and ice, Rae said.
If anything, the ever-changing road conditions and danger of fire have kept customers at home, she said.
Still, she said it's been inspiring to see the Santa Margarita community band together in the face of a natural disaster.
'To see how everybody comes together and looks out for each other and their neighbors, I feel really grateful to be here, to have a business here,' Rae said. 'It's a difficult time, but you always see how strong a community is when things like this happen.'
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