Neighbors preach wildfire preparation alongside Carmel Fire anniversary
CARMEL VALLEY, Calif. (KION) - Five years ago Carmel Valley was up in flames and today, as people recall evacuating, preparation for future wildfires is not taken lightly.
Janice Gistinelli lives in Carmel Valley and she remembers the fire all too well.
"I packed up as much as in my car as I could but it's very, very scary," Gistinelli said.
What CalFire thought was going to be a simple fire, turned into over 70 structures destroyed and almost 7,000 acres burning.
Battalion Chief Josh Silveira, from CalFire BEU, recalls receiving that first alarm.
"The initial dispatch to that was a slightly eerie hearing that, you know, we had a confirmed fire with known occupants in the area," Silveira said. "Your access and egress up there are very difficult, windy roads, relatively narrow.. and then for us having to share those roadways with homeowners that were evacuating, we knew we were going to be up against the wall for a while on that."
CalFire said 95% of California wildfires are caused by humans and it was established that the cause of this fire was due to a vehicle spark.
The organization encourages people to do as much prevention work as they can and neighbors agree.
"I've just packed up yesterday a fire kit that I put into my car," Gistinelli said. "Then I'll have it there in case anything should happen."
James Jonas, another Carmel Valley neighbor, not only evacuated himself during the 2020 fire, but his elderly mother.
He said she lived close to the fire, was not able to move quickly on her own and that he was very worried about her.
Jonas said that he encourages people to stay ahead of the fire and evacuate as soon as possible if that scenario arises.
"You may not want to wait for the red zone to hit you....you might want just to move ahead of it because you only have three exit points, three areas, lines of exit out of sight of this valley," Jonas said. "It's really essential to just move a little sooner."
CalFire contained the fire after almost three weeks of battling flames. They now say they are more prepared with local resources and ask neighbors to prepare themselves as well.
"We need to stop having that mindset of it's not going to happen here and we need to be prepared in the event that it does." Silveira said. "We really want people to take it seriously and hopefully they never have to use any of those tools."
CalFire recommends that people prepare a "go-bag" in case an evacuation order or warning is established and for people to "watch their sparks" -- that can include vehicles scrapping, law mowers hitting a rock, cigarettes and more.
