French Gulch-Whiskeytown School is a small town, K-8 school that provides a full curriculum with special focus areas such as Dance, Music & Arts, Karate, Japanese Culture, Spanish, Watershed studies in our region, and garden studies at the school. Individual attention allows us many opportunities for success.
Friday, September 10, 2004
French Fire and the Students
Students have written reports on the fire! Check them out.
The French Gulch fire started on August 14th, 2004. There were 40 miles of dozer lines. At one point the firefighters had 42 dozers out here. The fire damaged 39 miles of road. The fire burned13,323 acres of forest. The Waterman said there will be a drop in the water quality because the fire burned all most of the trees that hold the soil in place, so because of that, all the soil and ash will go in to the creek. The Bare team said they will have people put sandbags and concrete rails in and around town, so when it rains, and erosion occurs the town will be safe.
After the fire, on August 18th, 2004, my mom had to clean up animal carcasses. She told me that she pick up different types of animals like, cats, coons, birds, rabbits, deer, and squirrels. The Animalman at the meeting said there are 2 threatened birds that live in French Gulch, the Northern Spotted Owl, and the Bald Eagle.
There were 22 houses and 2 commercial buildings that burned. The places that I know that burned were Brenda’s trailer, Jared’s house, Daylan’s house, Antonio’s house, Pete Woll’s house, Heidi’s house, and Link’s house. The commercial buildings that burned are the I.O.O.F. Hall, and a SBC building, I think.
At the meeting, a man told me that the next couple of years will be dangerous with mine shafts around French Gulch. He also told me that that a mine shaft is a hole in the ground that goes down about 7ft. and branches off, and a mine adit is a door in the side of a mountain, goes in about 1 mile and branches off.
I learned a lot from the meeting and the Bare team last Monday.
On August fourteenth, my cousin Zack came out to our house. About ten minutes later we got a call from our neighbor he said that there was a fire in French Gulch. So my dad, Zack and I went outside and started to put sprinklers on the house, garage, and woodshed. My Mother and sister packed our things. We loaded up the car and truck’s and evacuated we drove to my grandpa’s house. We waited for four days watching the news seeing the town burn. On the fifth day we came back to town and seen the hillside burned. Friends’ houses burned down and the I.O.O.F. hall burned down. We went to our house and seen that it was fine we unpacked but the fire was still burning but it was burning over towards Weaverville. So the town was prettymuch saved. The next day PG&E and SBC started to repair the electricity and the phones. On august 20th the fire was out. People started to clean the burned town. 22 buildings where burned and 2 commercial buildings where burned. It was very sad seven days.
FIRE BY BREANNA My house was burnt on the back from the fire. The I O O F hall and lots of houses and cars were burnt down. Three of my friends’ houses were burnt down. People lost their clothes, houses, garages, and barns were burnt down. I didn’t care about my house. I cared about my cat and dog. The fire got the back of my shed. A lot of clothes of mine got ruined in my shed. My moms old car that was in the storage burnt down. We were having a birthday party at the lake. My mom was on the boat. She had a headache. She looked up and she saw smoke and she said it looked to close to town. We called on the cell phone and it was in French Gulch. It was in the trailer park.
August 14, 2004 was so scary. There was a gigantic fire in French Gulch. When we had to evacuate. I was terrified. Smoke was poring down the mountains. It was starting to get wormier. It looked like a cloudy waterfall, and it smelt like burnt rubber. It was important for me to get all of the pets out of the house and into the car. We had 2 dogs, 2 cats, and 2 chickens in the car. We went everywhere but we couldn’t find where we had to go. My dad was at work in Redding so he couldn’t get into French Gulch! Finally we found Trinity Center. When we got there, it was 1 AM. We were there for about 4 hours. We ate a little bit. Then we called an old friend and she had a house for rent! When we got there we made ourselves at home and we went to bed. When we got a chance to get into French Gulch, I saw our house. I almost cried. All there was left was a big pile of ash. The only thing left was a garage. When I went into the ash to look for anything, I found something of everyone’s. My mom’s possessions I found most of her China and her nice nic-nacs. I found my dad’s old coins that he collected since he was a kid. I found my brothers’ binder clip from his baseball cards and my sisters’ clay sculpture that she made at school. I also found my flower vase.
Fire Essay By Dave R. The French Fire started August 14, 2004 between 2:20 p.m. and 2:40 p.m. The smoke was horrible, it was black, thick, and you couldn’t see 25f t. in front of you. It reached 3,000 burned acres the first day. The fire started South of the town and moved up through it. It was fully contained on August 20, 2004. The total burned acreage is 13,323 including 27 homes and two commercial buildings. The fire perimeter was 22.5 miles. There was 39 miles of damaged roads. Debris flows threaten structures, roads, and facilities in French Gulch.
All this was confirmed at the French Fire closeout meeting on August 30, 2004 at the Redding Auditorium between 9:00 am and 10:30 am.
Wildlife will be very effected by this fire. Deer, squirrels, rabbits, and any other animal within the fire range have a very hard time finding food because of the burn severity.
My dad and I were in Redding getting dinner when the fire started we came to the French Gulch turn off but it was all blocked off. We started asking around to the group of about 25-30 people who were also out of town when the fire started and it was always about the same thing “ I not sure they say a fire is in town.”
We went back to Redding and then went to my dad’s pharmacy and got loans because we couldn’t get in our house. My sister Shelly was at a friends house at the time and they said she could stay until we could get back to our house. That night my dad and I stayed at the Vagabond Inn we stayed up half the night watching the news looking for anything that looked like our house. We were there for four days before we got to come home. When we did luckily we had a house to come home to; others were not so lucky. We did suffer a loss, our dog escaped. We found him in one of the animal shelters, he was too sick to come home, so we had to put him to sleep.
The school still started on August 26, 2004. There were news people, reporters, and counselors there waiting for the students to arrive. B.L.M., SBC, Red Cross, and other organizations or companies donated a lot of school supplies to the school, backpacks, binders, etc. etc.
The community has really come together to help each other using there time, money, and/or efforts to help whoever needs it.
7 comments:
French Gulch Fire
The French Gulch fire started on August 14th, 2004. There were 40 miles of dozer lines. At one point the firefighters had 42 dozers out here. The fire damaged 39 miles of road. The fire burned13,323 acres of forest. The Waterman said there will be a drop in the water quality because the fire burned all most of the trees that hold the soil in place, so because of that, all the soil and ash will go in to the creek. The Bare team said they will have people put sandbags and concrete rails in and around town, so when it rains, and erosion occurs the town will be safe.
After the fire, on August 18th, 2004, my mom had to clean up animal carcasses. She told me that she pick up different types of animals like, cats, coons, birds, rabbits, deer, and squirrels. The Animalman at the meeting said there are 2 threatened birds that live in French Gulch, the Northern Spotted Owl, and the Bald Eagle.
There were 22 houses and 2 commercial buildings that burned. The places that I know that burned were Brenda’s trailer, Jared’s house, Daylan’s house, Antonio’s house, Pete Woll’s house, Heidi’s house, and Link’s house. The commercial buildings that burned are the I.O.O.F. Hall, and a SBC building, I think.
At the meeting, a man told me that the next couple of years will be dangerous with mine shafts around French Gulch. He also told me that that a mine shaft is a hole in the ground that goes down about 7ft. and branches off, and a mine adit is a door in the side of a mountain, goes in about 1 mile and branches off.
I learned a lot from the meeting and the Bare team last Monday.
Mandy 8th grade
FIRE
On August fourteenth, my cousin Zack came out to our house. About ten minutes later we got a call from our neighbor he said that there was a fire in French Gulch. So my dad, Zack and I went outside and started to put sprinklers on the house, garage, and woodshed. My Mother and sister packed our things. We loaded up the car and truck’s and evacuated we drove to my grandpa’s house. We waited for four days watching the news seeing the town burn. On the fifth day we came back to town and seen the hillside burned. Friends’ houses burned down and the I.O.O.F. hall burned down. We went to our house and seen that it was fine we unpacked but the fire was still burning but it was burning over towards Weaverville. So the town was prettymuch saved. The next day PG&E and SBC started to repair the electricity and the phones. On august 20th the fire was out. People started to clean the burned town. 22 buildings where burned and 2 commercial buildings where burned. It was very sad seven days.
BY CODY LEDBETTER
9/10/04
FIRE
BY BREANNA
My house was burnt on the back from the fire. The I O O F hall and lots of houses and cars were burnt down. Three of my friends’ houses were burnt down. People lost their clothes, houses, garages, and barns were burnt down.
I didn’t care about my house. I cared about my cat and dog. The fire got the back of my shed. A lot of clothes of mine got ruined in my shed. My moms old car that was in the storage burnt down.
We were having a birthday party at the lake. My mom was on the boat. She had a headache. She looked up and she saw smoke and she said it looked to close to town. We called on the cell phone and it was in French Gulch. It was in the trailer park.
French Fire
August 14, 2004 was so scary. There was a gigantic fire in French Gulch. When we had to evacuate. I was terrified. Smoke was poring down the mountains. It was starting to get wormier. It looked like a cloudy waterfall, and it smelt like burnt rubber. It was important for me to get all of the pets out of the house and into the car. We had 2 dogs, 2 cats, and 2 chickens in the car. We went everywhere but we couldn’t find where we had to go. My dad was at work in Redding so he couldn’t get into French Gulch! Finally we found Trinity Center.
When we got there, it was 1 AM. We were there for about 4 hours. We ate a little bit. Then we called an old friend and she had a house for rent! When we got there we made ourselves at home and we went to bed.
When we got a chance to get into French Gulch, I saw our house. I almost cried. All there was left was a big pile of ash. The only thing left was a garage. When I went into the ash to look for anything, I found something of everyone’s. My mom’s possessions I found most of her China and her nice nic-nacs. I found my dad’s old coins that he collected since he was a kid. I found my brothers’ binder clip from his baseball cards and my sisters’ clay sculpture that she made at school. I also found my flower vase.
by Heidi
Fire Essay
By Dave R.
The French Fire started August 14, 2004 between 2:20 p.m. and 2:40 p.m. The smoke was horrible, it was black, thick, and you couldn’t see 25f t. in front of you. It reached 3,000 burned acres the first day. The fire started South of the town and moved up through it. It was fully contained on August 20, 2004. The total burned acreage is 13,323 including 27 homes and two commercial buildings. The fire perimeter was 22.5 miles. There was 39 miles of damaged roads. Debris flows threaten structures, roads, and facilities in French Gulch.
All this was confirmed at the French Fire closeout meeting on August 30, 2004 at the Redding Auditorium between 9:00 am and 10:30 am.
Wildlife will be very effected by this fire. Deer, squirrels, rabbits, and any other animal within the fire range have a very hard time finding food because of the burn severity.
My dad and I were in Redding getting dinner when the fire started we came to the French Gulch turn off but it was all blocked off. We started asking around to the group of about 25-30 people who were also out of town when the fire started and it was always about the same thing “ I not sure they say a fire is in town.”
We went back to Redding and then went to my dad’s pharmacy and got loans because we couldn’t get in our house. My sister Shelly was at a friends house at the time and they said she could stay until we could get back to our house. That night my dad and I stayed at the Vagabond Inn we stayed up half the night watching the news looking for anything that looked like our house. We were there for four days before we got to come home. When we did luckily we had a house to come home to; others were not so lucky. We did suffer a loss, our dog escaped. We found him in one of the animal shelters, he was too sick to come home, so we had to put him to sleep.
The school still started on August 26, 2004. There were news people, reporters, and counselors there waiting for the students to arrive. B.L.M., SBC, Red Cross, and other organizations or companies donated a lot of school supplies to the school, backpacks, binders, etc. etc.
The community has really come together to help each other using there time, money, and/or efforts to help whoever needs it.
End
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