THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2012
Inside Spikers keep winning Ramona High’s girls volleyball team earn two more wins, giving the Bulldogs a sixmatch winning streak in league play...........26
VOL. 126, ISSUE 35
Lessons from 2003, 2007 wildfires Editor’s note: Sunday, Oct. 21, marks the fifth anniversary of the Witch wildfire, and Thursday, Oct. 25, is the ninth anniversary of the Cedar fire. This articles explores what we’ve learned and what will be different if another devastating wildfire strikes our community. By KAREN BRAINARD Traffic jams, no electricity, a lack of water, hundreds of homes and outbuildings destroyed or
Sports commentary NCAA’s decision affecting students at Ramona Community School’s Mountain Valley Academy angers mother, who says the organization is crushing dreams.......35
Index
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Our Town.....................7 Opinion..................8-9 Obituaries...............11 Featured Businesses...21 Business News...........23 Classifieds.................28 Coupons...................38
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damaged—the events and scenes of the October 2007 Witch Creek fire are still fresh in residents’ minds, and many want to know if anything has changed so the past does not repeat itself. Steps are being taken to possibly ease evacuations, assure the town has water, and educate the public on being prepared. Ramona Fire Department/Cal Fire Battalion Chief Saul Villagomez, who is still working with res-
Supervisors approve emergency evacuation route; tour on Nov.1 Five years after the Witch wildfire led to a nightmarishly slow evacuation of Ramona, San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted to pursue a new emergency evacuation route that it will open to the public for viewing at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 1. The county will conduct the evacuation route open house with the Ramona Community Planning Group. The planning group will hold its monthly meeting that evening at 7 and will welcome questions and comments about the route. The meeting will be in the Ramona Library Community Room, 1275 Main St. North of Ramona Airport, the route would lead evacuees west on a dirt road through a portion of the county grasslands and across Ramona Municipal Water District (RMWD) property to Rangeland
Road and eventually to State Route 67 or Highland Valley Road. Visitors to the open house are asked to assemble near the gated access point off Montecito Way, just north of El Paso Street, where the route begins. Parking will be along Montecito Way. The route is a 12-foot wide dirt strip. The tour will consist of a caravan that will return to Montecito Way upon completion. According to Ramona planning group Chair Jim Piva, the tour will not include the proposed route’s portion that would travel over water district property, as the county is still working on an agreement with the district. Piva noted that there have been a lot of questions and concerns about the proposed emergency evacuation route. See SUPERVISORS page 2
idents on fire rebuilds, said one of the biggest items that has resulted from the Witch fire is more education. Community workshops have covered such topics as evacaution, defensible space, and hardening a home—making it more fire resistant. Being ready and having a plan is key, said Villagomez. He called Cal Fire’s “Ready, Set, Go” a good plan to have in place before, during and after a
fire. That plan can be viewed at readyforwildfire.org/docs/files/ File/Ready%20Set%20Go%20 Plan%2009_CALFIRE_sm.pdf. Another Cal Fire website, readyforwildfire.org/index.aspx, gives information on evacuation preparedness and other tips. Ramona Fire Department/Cal Fire Battalion Chief Burke Kremensky pointed out that an evacSee LESSONS LEARNED, page 14
Rebuilding homes, rebuilding lives By KAREN BRAINARD Five years have passed since the Witch fire roared into Ramona on Oct. 21, 2007, during a spell of hot, dry Santa Ana winds, and many Ramonans are still rebuilding their lives from the devastation. Information on how many homes were
lost in Ramona and how many have been rebuilt was not available from the county. Instead, the county has broken down that data by fires and reports that the Witch fire destroyed 609 primary structures, and See REBUILDING, page 16
Sentinel photo/Karen Brainard
Conrad Young stands by a used drill press that he bought after the 2007 fire and stores in a burned-out storage container that serves as his shop. Young lost his shop and machinery in the Witch fire. In the distance looms a tree that never recovered from the fire.