November 4thAll road to Big Bear are open.
Burned Structure Tally Includes 518 Homes; Firefighters Go Above and Beyond
The San Bernardino County Assessor's Office reports that 520 structures were damaged or destroyed as a result of the Slide and Grass Valley Fires and yet only two of those were businesses: a hardware store and a real estate office in the downtown area of Green Valley Lake, as we reported last Thursday. That said, the other 518 structures destroyed or damaged were homes, and this information has been confirmed for us by Incident Command this week. Fire officials also confirm that no school facilities within the Rim of the World School District were burned during the two fires. Given this, there are well over 500 individuals and families who will have to rebuild their homes and replace their belongings—though not every item is replaceable. John Miller of the U.S. Forest Service tells us that an elderly woman returned to her home in Running Springs during yesterday's organized site visit, and was alone, digging through the burned debris in search of her family heirloom jewelry. The U.S. Forest Service crew of Engine 16 from Fawnskin was in the area, and took to helping this woman and, all told, picked through the burned debris with her until they found the jewelry. For this, and countless other heroic, kind and brave gestures, we want to say thank you to all the firefighters.
November 1st
Good News: Slide Fire Is Now 100% Contained; Highway 330 Re-Opened -- Update as of 9am
We have more good news to report on the fires, both of which started 10 days ago, on Monday morning, October 22. As of last night, the Slide Fire, which burned 12,759 acres in the areas of Green Valley Lake, Running Springs and Arrowbear, is 100% contained. As of 6am this morning, the mandatory evacuation order for residents of Running Springs and Arrowbear has been lifted. Residents of Green Valley Lake will be able to return home at noon on Friday, November 2, as Incident Command has scheduled a lifting of this, the last of the mandatory evacuation orders. However, residents in these communities may be without power for up to another two weeks, per Southern California Edison. Despite this, John Miller with the U.S. Forest Service, tells KBHR, “Southern California Edison is doing an outstanding job, working 'round the clock, to restore service.”
The Grass Valley Fire is also 100% contained, and utility crews are still at work in the area to continue restoration of the utilities to these communities, which includes areas in and around Twin Peaks and Lake Arrowhead. Those who live in neighborhoods within the 1,247 burned acres of the Grass Valley Fire are under a voluntary evacuation.
As of this morning, at 6am, the road closure on Highway 330 has been lifted, per a statement released by the County of San Bernardino. Also, as of this morning, the Highway 18 closure has been moved to the east, from Heaps Peak to Green Valley Lake Road. For those traveling from Big Bear, the closure of Highway 18 does remain in effect from Green Valley Lake Road to the Big Bear Dam.
