It was horrible, to see first hand the devastation. I couldn't come home to Bakersfield yesterday because the main north and south artery, I-5 was shut down as was highway 210..both of which I use to come home from Temecula.
When I passed the Oakridge Mobile Home Park the smoke was still thick like fog, the smell of burnt wood was heavy in the air. Even with my windows closed and my air conditioning on in the car, I could smell it.
Then, I saw it. On the right side of the road, less than 50 feet from where I was driving...what was left of the Mobile Home Park.
Nothing was left..nothing. Just piles of ashes on cement foundations. It chilled me to my
bones. 500 mobile homes gone...all those families, it broke my heart. These were high end mobile homes, not run down outhouses that you think of when you hear the phrase mobile home.I turned the music off and drove the rest of the way home in silence. I could see huge mushroom-like clouds where the new fires had popped up overnight far away on the horizon..Chino Hills, where Sirens Chronicle writer Big Fella lives, and other places that I usually pass on my journey's to and from Southern Cali. I couldn't go my usual route as new roads were closed today..route 71, 91 hell I dont remember them all.
But it will be a long time before I forget the devastation that used to be Oakridge Mobile Home Park.
