UU Santa Monica regularly has a church family camp at our beloved mountain home-away-from-home in the beautiful San Bernardino National Forest, just off CA Highway 38, on the way to Big Bear. But in recent years, fires have been ever more present in the area as a result of drought and climate change.
UUSM Family Camp usually happens in mid-September, often the height of fire season. This year, the Line Fire erupted on September 5, shortly before our weekend was to begin. And soon, folks on the mountain were ordered to evacuate. You might remember this announcement:
The flames continued, but firefighters were getting them under control. At least for a while. Our Camp de Benneville Pines Planning Committee even considered trying to reschedule our family weekend, possibly merging with another UU church to somehow salvage the season.
But alas, this was not to be. In a series of updates from the Camp’s executive director, Janet James, we have been learning that after some initial optimism, the Line Fire has gained new strength and danger; the US Forest Service and CalFire have had their resources stretched to the limit.
According to Janet, on September 29, soon after staff began to scrub up the facilities, the area was evacuated again as the fire found new life, crossing Highway 38 east of Angelus Oaks. Containment declined from 83% to 78%, with first responders doing all they could to battle the blaze.
On October 2, Janet provided a slightly more hopeful update written by a retired fire battalion chief and passed along by someone from the neighboring Boy Scouts camp monitoring fire activity:
Finally, a decent day on the Line Fire. There was one flare-up this morning that was quickly knocked down, then firefighters were able to hold lines on the eastern flank for the balance of the day. Crews were particularly successful tightening up the line and firing out of Angelus Oaks, providing a wide barrier to further fire damage. Crews went direct on the part of line that bumped Highway 38 yesterday, and on the Big Bear Ridge, and completed both hand and dozer lines on all open perimeter and reinforced this line with aerial delivered retardant. Tomorrow will hopefully be more of the same, with a large firefighting force recommitted to these areas to strengthen the newly constructed fire line. Good job to all the firefighters, and let’s pray for another good day tomorrow. Camp is still at risk, but progress has been made.
We continue to hope for the best. In the meantime, Camp de Benneville Pines is empty, save for the lonely pick-up truck in the photo below, while firefighter crews battle the flames only three miles to the west. In the Camp itself, though, all is quiet, and one could almost believe that all is well. The public is still barred from entering San Bernardino National Forest through November.
UUSM’s Generous Congregation Contributions for September had already been planned to benefit de Benneville Pines — so thanks for your generosity! If you’re able to add to this with an ongoing or one-time donation directly to Camp, that will be much appreciated, too.
– UUSM Camp de Benneville Pines Planning Committee
Editor’s Note: The map below shows the proximity of the Line fire to Camp de Benneville Pines as of October 2. For updated maps, see https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2024/9/5/line-fire, https://share.watchduty.org/i/33389, or https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/cabdf-line-fire. Frequent updates can also be found on the Camp de Benneville Pines website at https://www.uucamp.org/whats-new-2/.
