MOGAN HILL
– Residents of the Croy Road area affected by the fire which
started Sept. 23 wanted to reach out to the firefighters who spent
hours battling the blaze.
Banner full of heartfelt gratitude hung on the first engine to respond to Croy fire
By MARILYN DUBIL
Staff Writer
MOGAN HILL – Residents of the Croy Road area affected by the fire which started Sept. 23 wanted to reach out to the firefighters who spent hours battling the blaze.
“This all just kind of evolved from people saying, ‘How can we ever thank them,'” said Montana Ranch resident and organizer Kathie Costello Schmitt. “We all really wanted to do something to let them know how much we appreciate them.”
The fire, which investigators believe started as a result of a problem in a solar panel apparatus, damaged or destroyed 38 homes, causing $4,439,500 in damages to dwellings and personal property. While the fire is considered extinguished, firefighters continue to monitor it for flare ups around the clock, and will likely do so until the seasonal rains begin.
Approximately 15 residents of the area, including several children, showed up Monday at the California Department of Forestry Morgan Hill headquarters on Monterey Road. They brought with them pictures, a banner signed by many residents and heartfelt expressions of thanks.
“We had a potluck dinner at my house Saturday, with quite a few people, and we just talked about what we had experienced and what we would like to do,” Schmitt said. “We put together this banner, which we’ll hang on engine 1671, the first engine to respond to the fire.”
The banner, which was made by the daughter of one of Schmitt’s friends whose husband lost a best friend in the Sept. 11 tragedy, was hung on the engine as the crowd of residents clapped and a group of firefighters looked on.
The residents also presented firefighters with a framed photo of the blaze Schmitt took when she returned to her home, and a framed collage of pictures of the signs displayed in the area by the residents thanking the firefighters.
Schmitt and her husband, Darryl, did not lose their home in the blaze. They live on Montoya ranch, which has been in Darryl’s family for generations. His aunt, Delores Cairns, better known as “Auntie Di,” visited the Schmitts a week after the fire and was with the group on Monday to present the banner and photos.
Cairns, 94, said she was 16 when the last great fire consumed the area, and that this year’s fire is “unfortunately history repeating itself.”
“I remember what it was like in 1924,” she said. “My grandmother stood there and watched the flames jump from one ridge to the other. The ranch, fortunately is on a knoll. It’s protected, and the flames jumped right across … it was a very scary time for us.”
Cairns, who said her relatives helped fight the 1924 fire, said this fire was “different in that it brought everybody together.”
“We have become so complacent in many ways,” she said. “Sometimes we forget what’s important in life. Events like this, where we see tragedy and people gathering to support one another, reaffirm for us what is truly important.”
Seeing the fire on the news, Cairns said she was frightened because it looked so devastating.
“When I was finally able to get in touch with Darryl and Kathie, and then go to the house, I was relieved that it wasn’t as bad as I thought originally,” she said. “And we are thankful for that, and grateful to the firefighters.”
