Hundreds of Murrieta-area residents return home as Tenaja fire continues burning
Even as smoke from the Tenaja fire billowed in the distance, residents returned Friday, Sept. 6, to some of the hundreds of homes that had been evacuated over the past two days.
Officials lifted all mandatory evacuation orders at 8 a.m. Friday, though they warned that residents could be ordered to leave again if the fire picked up. It was 2,000 acres and 20% contained Friday morning, as firefighters prepared for possible flare-ups caused by afternoon winds.
While firefighters hosed off pink fire retardant that had been dropped on houses next to open brush — and within eyesight of blackened hills — the joy of being home mixed with apprehension over the still-burning fire and the headache of cleanup.
“I spent two hours blowing off ash and cleaning up already,” said Lawrence Kellar, 44, who returned to his Botanica Place home minutes after evacuation orders were lifted. “My pool was black.”
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Earlier, Kellar had thought he was in the clear. A sleepless Wednesday night, with the roar of helicopters dropping water overhead, was followed by an apparently calm Thursday morning when he went to work.
But officials issued an evacuation order for the neighborhood Thursday afternoon, blocking Kellar from returning home or packing his belongings. He kept tabs on the fire’s progress through updates from his neighbor, who refused the evacuation order.
“I could see the area right down the street on the news, and he (the neighbor) texted me, ‘Your cul-de-sac’s just been bombed,’” Kellar said.
That ‘bombing’ of fire retardant helped contain damage from the fire, which as of Friday had only caused minor damage to two structures, according to fire officials.
Standing on the deck outside his bedroom, Kellar can see burnt brush and a path of vegetation that could have taken flames right into his yard.
“We got very lucky,” he said.
The fire, first reported at 3:56 p.m. Wednesday, had about 570 homes under evacuation orders Thursday, with residents in at least 141 of those homes opting to stay put, Cal Fire Division Chief Todd Hopkins said at a Thursday evening news conference.
Robert Gallo, 73, was one of those who stayed home despite the order.
“I wasn’t too worried, with the great work firefighters were doing,” he said.
With the help of Wildfire Defense Systems, which his insurance company hired to protect his house, Gallo covered all of the house’s vents, brought flammable furniture inside, and watched the battle against the blaze along with his wife.
He could see flames and water drops, but the fire didn’t get too close for his comfort. A few blocks away, though, he saw his neighbors’ homes drenched in retardant and flames approach houses.
“Here, you don’t see nothing,” he said. “The other side, it’s a warzone.”
Flames got even closer to some homes, like the one that Desirea Henderson was house-sitting.
“It was burning right next to the backyard — right next to it,” Henderson said.
Indeed, starting several feet from the back fence and extending to the top of the tall hills behind the neighborhood, nothing stood but scattered black shrubs and a thick layer of ash.
Henderson, who lives in a nearby neighborhood that wasn’t evacuated, was several days into watching the house when she heard a “weird wind.”
“I rushed over here and grabbed their doggy,” she said. “He’s at our house now.”
Henderson, who watches houses and pets professionally through Rover.com, wasn’t able to do the same for another house.
“I waited for hours, but I wasn’t able to get to that house and grab their dog,” she said.
When evacuation orders were lifted, she drove immediately to that house. The pet is safe, she said.