I’ve lived in Idyllwild for the last 45 years. It’s a small town in the Southern California mountains, and it’s about a mile high where most people live. We don’t have any traffic lights. We don’t have fast food. We don’t even have a Starbucks. But we have many, many hiking trails. The Pacific Crest Trail passes through here on our ridge. People come from all over to visit us, because they like to get away from the city. Back when I had my art gallery, people would come in and say they were just so happy to be here in these natural surroundings.



This past July, the town had to evacuate the mountain because of a wildfire. We’ve been through fires before, but nothing as bad as this. It started because of an arson, and because everything was so dry, it really took off. We also had high winds at that time—the Santa Ana winds—which we normally get more toward September or October. But here we were, at the end of July, having these winds that just pushed the fire all over the mountain.

When I learned that I had to evacuate, I was dog sitting for a fella. I got a call from my landlord that said the fire was about three miles away. So I put the dog in the car and we went down the hill. We met up with the fella, and the three of us stayed in a hotel.

It was just total stress and anxiety. Sometimes we would look out the window and see the smoke and ashes rising from the hill. I didn’t have my computer or my cell phone, and I didn’t have my medication. I also have three chickens, and I was worried sick about my chickens. One, I call her Ari—she’s an Araucana chicken. One I call Smiley, because it just seems like she’s always smiling. The other one I just call Pretty, because she’s pretty. I couldn’t get in touch with anybody to take care of them.

Fortunately, the fella I was with works for the local newspaper. So he managed to get himself back up the hill to get my computer and medications. When I had my computer, I put a request out on Facebook to see if anyone was still up there. Another fella I don’t even know responded. He fed and watered my chickens, and made sure they were safe. And when I got back, the first thing I did was run back to see the chickens. They were fine. That’s typical of this town, that a perfect stranger would stand up and help.