Creek Fire - Fresno County - California Wildfires

This hiking trip definitely didn’t go as planned.

Saturday morning I decided to go on a day hike to meet some of my friends out backpacking at George Lake in the Kaiser Wilderness above Huntington Lake. I left Fresno California around 6am in the morning and got on the trail around 8am. My hike was 5.5 miles in. I passed Potter Pass, Lower Twin Lake, and Upper Twin Lake. Two hours later I made it to George Lake and found my group of people.

It was awesome. We were enjoying ice cold beers that I had packed in, laughing quite a bit, and just having a good ole time. Sometime between 11 and 3 my friend Jeff looked up and was like “wow look at that”. We all looked and there was a big smoke plume billowing smoke above Kaiser Ridge (the mountain behind George Lake).

We sat there in awe. The billows were a grayish color. We watched the smoke plume get bigger and bigger. Eventually, the smoke started to change color. The plume started to become purple, then yellow, then orange and then red.

That’s when the chatter started.

• “What are we going to do?”

• “Should we stay?”

• “Where do you think this is coming from?”

Luckily one of us had a satellite phone so we called out. It was a fire between Shaver Lake and Huntington Lake. The fire was about 5,000 acres.

The debate continued. Do we stay or do we go? Eventually a sweet young couple came over to our group to let us know that they had hiked to the ridge line where they had cell signal and had just gotten off the phone with the ranger station in Prather. Everyone was to evacuate immediately.

So of course we all packed up and started our journey out. It was an eerie feeling. Everything was quite. There were no birds chirping, no wind blowing, no people talking. Absolute silence.

The light started to fade and it began to feel like night. Walking through the forest it felt like we had maybe 15 more minutes of daylight, but it was only 4:30 meaning we had hours left. The sun was completely blocked by the smoke.

After passing Potter Pass we came to an unbelievable view … the view of the West end of Huntington Lake engulfed in the flames and smoke of what is now known as the Creek Fire.

It was the most unimaginable site. The fire appeared to be at the lake bed. At the time we left our base camp at George lake, the fire was 5000 acres. When we got to the trail head (2.5 hours later and 5.5 miles later) the fire had exploded to 36,000 acres.

The drive home was pretty intense . I wasn’t sure that we were going to make it out. There is really only a few ways in and out of this place and Hwy 168 was our only option. Where was the fire boundary? Had it made it to 168 yet? The entire drive we were catching glimpses of the flames overtaking the forest on the next hillside over. Trees were exploding in the distance… literally. At 168 and Big Creek road the fire looked to be just 1/4 mile away.

Luckily, we were able to make it out safely.

As of right now the fire has grown to an astounding 76k acres in a matter of days. (9-7). I have countless friends and family forced to evacuate there homes by this fire. It is horrendous and there really are no words I can say that are going to change the situation. I am sharing these images to share my experience.

California is on fire. We need to manage our public lands better. This shouldn’t be happening. People shouldn’t be losing their homes, their livelihood, their animals, their entire everything…

If you have been evacuated or effected by the #creekfire please leave a comment and let me know your experience.

Here are some resources for you if you have been effected:

Creek Fire Donations via ABC 30 Action News:

AMERICAN RED CROSS
The Red Cross Central California is looking for financial donations to help provide places to stay and other resources for people left without homes.
The agency said that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they are not accepting material donations. However, you can make a donation to the Red Cross Disaster Relief by visiting the Red Cross website here.

CENTRAL CALIFORNIA ANIMAL DISASTER TEAM
The Central California Animal Disaster Team is a volunteer organization that sets up emergency shelters for animals during disasters.
The organization is welcoming donations to help find shelters for animals displaced by the Creek Fire.
If you'd like to donate, click here. If you'd like to help volunteer, click here.

EVOLUTION QUARTER HORSES
Clovis resident Blake Cadigan has been traveling with a team of volunteers, rescuing animals and livestock left behind by evacuees. The team rescues horses, cows, and even llamas, among other large animals.
Evolution Quarter Horses helped animals in Monterey County last month and are now helping those escaping the Creek Fire.
You can find more information on how to donate to the group by clicking here.