The Coyote Fire: A Frightening Fire Drill
A resident looks back at last week's fire near the Coyote Valley Casino in Redwood Valley
By Adam Gaska
A fast-moving fire near the Coyote Valley Casino in Redwood Valley prompted the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office to issue an evacuation order at 1:02 p.m. on Thursday, June 25. Fifteen minutes later, the order was lifted, giving residents and emergency responders a chance to assess how prepared they would all be if the fire had continued to spread.
After finishing my lunch, I received a Watch Duty alert about a fire in Coyote Valley. Shortly afterward, I got a Nixle alert saying the fire was on Vineyard Oaks and that an evacuation warning had been issued. I decided to head home immediately. Soon after I left, the warning was upgraded to an evacuation order.
Driving home at 90 mph, I was passed by about 10 Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office vehicles traveling even faster. As I got closer to home, deputies were driving through the neighborhood with their lights and sirens on, using loudspeakers to tell residents to evacuate.
I made it home and, within 10 minutes, had changed from business casual into clothes better suited for firefighting. The pets were gathered inside and ready to be loaded into their carriers. My fire box, valuables and go bags were staged by the door, and my car was backed up to the house, ready for a quick departure.
I laid out hoses around the house, removed curtains and other flammable items from the windows, closed all the windows and doors, and moved anything combustible away from the house to clear the battlefield. I even thought through my contingency plan to kick down a section of the wooden fence if I needed another escape route. All the gates were open, and I was as ready as I could be.
Then everything changed. Fire crews stopped the forward progress of the fire, and the evacuation order was downgraded to a warning, then to a situational awareness advisory.
After waiting for a while to make sure things remained stable, I changed back into my office clothes, put everything back where it belonged, and headed back to work.