Slater Fire from Davis Road

This wasn’t to be a normal day, Strong winds made the difference!
By 930 we had fire rolling through houses and blowing across Indian Creek like a freight train.
Now, Mario Gomez was born and raised in Happy Camp. After Happy Camp High School he attended College of the Siskiyous in Weed, so you might say he’s a Siskiyou County boy. Mario has been OPS Chief on many recent catastrophic fires like the Carr fire and Mendocino Complex.

“Being the Incident Command and OPS chief on a fire burning through my hometown, Happy Camp, where I experienced fire fighting for 22 years ;can’t even explain to you!
Mario isn’t the only one to say it was like we were in a bad dream and couldn’t wake up.
Our local fire fighters with Mario, and folks that showed up from out of town did everything we possibly could to save as many lives as possible.

At 11 pm we had the fire roll on top of us in the Meadows like a hurricane from Hell and exploded the whole fist . A raging inferno! For the next four hours with 20 engines and our local crew saving what few houses that remain in the area of the Meadows today.
“It was a complete war zone! Bullets going off, propane tanks blowing up and so much more!

“Fire fighters and law enforcement officers spent that horrific thirty hours are true heroes! I can’t believe with everything that happened. No first responders died. IT’s a complete miracle!

“So many of my family members, friends and coworkers have lost their home and everything they own, Those fire fighters are still on the line fighting the blaze. Heroes and true soldiers, those guys and gals are truly amazing!

Mario left the fire to go join his current team 1 incident manager in Southern California, but wanted Happy Camp to rest assured about being in good hands..

Slater Fire Coming toward Happy Camp

Slater Fire from Davis Road

Happy Camp Neighborhood Watch Meets 2nd Monday each month

by Judy E Bushy
Well, the last meeting of Neighborhood Watch (2nd Monday each month) went well We discussed the purchase of more efficient cameras, more patrol, fund raiser to afford the best system, and partnering with other non profits to fight crime, graffiti included.

Dan Effman mentioned that, “The strange part was we did not have a good turnout. The majority of the people that are complaining or suggest ways to fight crime didn’t show. We would appreciate it if you attended to share!”

Robin who serves as secretary/treasurer also said, “We encourage people to come out and get involved. As a community we need to work together to keep our community safe from crime.”

Really appreciated that Doreen explained more about the Neighborhood Watch, “Until you get involved and realize the problems aren’t as simple as they should be there will be misconceptions. The NW volunteers are just that; volunteers! There is no pay, no prestige, and many times it is a thankless duty. Until people put their differences aside and act in cohesion there will be little gains made in the area of crime prevention. Especially since we cope without any local 24/7 law enforcement.

Community Help Needed
Hope to see you all at the next meeting (July 13th postponed and will ZOOM August 10th)and a big thank you to those that attended. I enjoyed seeing Dan Effman, Robin Eggers, Rita Manley-King and Yukon Sakota! Some had other duties that kept them away but usually come. Last meeting before Covid-19 issues came up there were 17 and we had only 5 attend for June.