Dear UUSM Community,
The Line Fire, the wildfire burning in the San Bernardino Mountains west of Camp de Benneville Pines, is nowhere near under control and has been growing for the past three days. While not immediately threatening Camp itself yet, authorities have issued evacuation orders for Angeles Oaks and surrounding areas, including Camp de Benneville Pines. UUSM Camp Weekend, scheduled for this weekend, is cancelled. Stay tuned for more information.
In fellowship,
The de Benneville Pines Planning Committee
A message from Camp Executive Director, Janet James:
Dear Camp Friends, I snapped this photo of the camp sign on my way out of the gate last night. I was accompanied by two dedicated empl oyees, John Hocutt and Steve Johnston, who stayed thru to the end and helped me with securing the camp. Driving out of camp was such a difficult thing to do, I cried all the way down the mountain, as this fire is rapidly spreading with no containment. The thought of losing the forestland and so many animals is overwhelming, let alone the possibility of losing our camp!
As we drove down hwy 38 from Angelus Oaks, we could see fire up on the ridgeline, and the flames were gobbling up the hillside right below Mountain Home Village and Camp Loch Levon (Keller Peak). By the time we got down to the ranger station, the entire mountainside at the entrance to the canyon was ablaze. Hundreds of people were parked along hwy 38 just watching the fire like one would watch a fireworks show.
ART campers evacuated on Sunday, and all staff were out of camp by 8 pm Monday. Daisy Doodle is with me in Redlands. She brought with her two of her favorite toys, Miss Kitty and Dirty Piggy.
Special thanks to the employees who stayed thru to the end to help with closing the camp, Zandy and Viktoriia. Thanks to Aileen, Kyle, Claire, Ben and Marty for their help getting campers safely out and getting equipment put away. It took a team of people to leave the camp squared away.
More updates to follow. See Facebook at www.facebook.com/uucamp
