Borel 2024 -Havilah Resident

Just a quick update from Havilah. I’ve posted on the site from time to time when appropriate. I have owned our land and home in Havilah since the mid 90’s. We’ve been through all the local fires throughout that period. We were here for the Borel/Havilah incident.

This morning at daybreak I went for a drive for about 10 minutes and stayed on Cal-Bodfish through Havilah and north/south a few miles. I wanted to stop by and check on neighbors but I knew how long those visits can be so I fought the urge to keep the road time short.

The roads were eerily empty due to the time I chose. I also got a text from a neighbor who lost everything who asked if we needed anything from town, I was truly taken by their kindness and concern and it spoke volumes about the human spirit and the type of people in this small community.

Within about 30 minutes after my return there were dozens of groups of vehicles from County, other Government and Private sectors. Our sincere thanks for your Service.

The nighttime videos that everyone has seen are much more spectacular, of course, but today was simply saddening, eerily quiet and disturbing. We had one visit from a neighbor that came by to visit us in the afternoon. I was certain that they had lost their home, thankfully I was wrong, so we had some joy.

I did take photos that I will share later and I’m sorry about that, but I don’t know if people have been notified about their homes, loved ones and friends so I don’t believe that it is right to be posting photos at this early time.

I will say that there is much destruction but there are still some pockets of homes here and there that were spared. It was another difficult day and each one brings new challenges and a few moments of relief. Still putting out hotspots that threaten. Our land was hit hard and full force, hundreds of old Blue Oaks are gone along with every spec of vegetation, our Home weathered the event with no damage. Lots of damage to equipment, trailers corral and other equipment.

My sincere thanks to everyone on this site that have helped us through, their knowledge and experience. My deepest thanks go to an unnamed individual on this site, his friendship, guidance, knowledge, experience and expertise have simply been invaluable. Lots of guidance and a few good kicks in the behind when needed.

Finally, thanks to the Mods who have kept this site from becoming a Facebook site, we don’t need that here. If for any reason this post is inappropriate or in the wrong section I welcome the Mods to do the right thing and delete it immediately or move it. John

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Thank you for the update john.

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Certainly glad to hear some homes survived and hope that Havilah can be built back up. Good luck to you all.

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John, a plan is just a plan until you have a person willing to trust, implement, and execute. You did an excellent job in my book. God speed on your continued mission and adventure - helping others not as fortunate and being the great person that you are. And we can’t forget Lisa for her support and trust in you when it got kinda crazy.

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John, so glad to hear your home is OK. That must have been an errie drive. Heard from my son last night that our old nextdoor neighbors in Lake Isabella who moved to Havilah home survived but not a lot of the railroad ties that lined the road up to their place.

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There’s an interesting video on you tube : https://youtu.be/oxWpv9A28RE?si=bnPsH97xwXwgQOnF
Shows some of the footage from the Borel fire

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Around the 34 minute mark is the Havilah fire station, and then the town itself. It’s sad to see it again. It is a great video to provide awareness of all the issues the field mechanics have to deal with.

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Seeing the Havilah station like that does hit hard though yeah. That video is a real awesome job in showing just how much the crews are up against, most people never think about that at all.

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