When a fire hits home

Families in Mariposa pick up the pieces after a blaze ravages their community, leaving dozens homeless

By DEBBIE CROFT

Clear, blue skies surround Mariposa once again. Smoke and ash no longer fill the air as it did two weeks ago when the Telegraph fire raged across 34,000 acres destroying 28 homes and 33 other buildings.

Homeless families in the Whitlock Road, Mount Bullion Ridge, Mosher Road and Sherlock Road are trying to absorb the shock and reality of their situation as clouds of dust and ash billow up from their burned properties.

"We're sad, but not in despair," said Linda Hakanson, tears filling her eyes over the loss of her home on Sherlock Road. "We still have our family."

Emotions surfaced as Hakanson spoke of the frustration, numbness, sadness, anger, gratitude, exhaustion, and even a bit of delight that have come out of the disastrous fire. "At least I'm getting to spend a lot of time with our granddaughters!" Their youngest grandchild is almost 5 months old. "She recognizes me now," Linda said with a smile.

Linda and Steve Hakanson and two of their daughters stayed with relatives in Catheys Valley after evacuation.

Tears flowed again when the Hakanson family visited their scorched property. Nineteen years of raising four girls and a small menagerie of animals in the mountains had been a dream come true. Now their dream home has been reduced to rubble.

"The ducks and geese were fine, though, and the trees are still there, said Rachel, Linda and Steve's 23-year-old daughter. "We were surprised they weren't burned. My mom loves the trees. And her rose bushes survived, because she had left the drip on."

Amongst the ashes were signs of past family life. Dozens of coffee cans stored in the barn for decorating and filling with Christmas cookies, metal bed frames, iron skillets still on top of the stove, a small heart-shaped jewelry box, and the metal bench that sat on the deck overlooking the canyon, once covered with oaks and pines, but now black and bare.

The girls' grandmother, who also lived on the property, died in April. "We've missed her, of course, but we had mementos," Rachel said. "We had some of her antiques and furniture -- different things that we had brought over to our house. I love books, and whenever she gave me a book, she'd write something inside. But now all of that is gone. I never realized how sentimental I am. It's like losing her all over again."

Indeed, other families who have lost a home to fire agree. "It's awful -- like losing a loved one," said one victim who declined to be identified. "Even after years have gone by, the grief and sense of loss is still very real."

The Hakansons aren't sure what the future holds for them. But for now its tedious, time-consuming, necessary tasks. There are phone calls to cut off utilities, appointments with insurance companies, meetings and conferences with people from various agencies, and visits to the Red Cross.

"The Red Cross has been such a blessing," Linda said. "They gave us tools and a hard hat, a shovel, buckets, and face masks so we don't breathe in the dust.

"There are a lot of things to take care of that you can't know until you go through something like this," Linda pointed out. Lists and lists for insurance purposes and permits. Just wading through everything each day -- it's crazy, overwhelming. Sometimes I feel this rush of anxiety, but then I remember, God's in control -- I'm not."

"The strength of people is amazing," said Angela Phillips who, along with fellow employee Todd Davidson of the Department of Human Resources Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, made countless visits to the families and properties where homes were burned to encourage them and provide resource information. Phillips said she goes home everyday with new stories to tell. "They'll be fine. The people up here are very strong."