Reznet

A mountaintop burns near Escondido, Calif.Courtesy photo by George Lynch

The Lucky Ones

By Christina Good Voice (Bearpaw)

The winds were like nothing Wynona Bigknife had ever seen. The 50-year-old Cherokee tribal member and San Diego resident was awakened at about 4 a.m. on Oct. 21 to extreme winds and smoky conditions.

Wildfires were spreading rapidly northward from southern California, and Bigknife was one of several thousand people who fled their homes in San Diego County. Wildfires forced the evacuation of several Indian reservations, as well as many Native Americans living off tribal lands.

Some of the reservations burned by fires were the Rincon, Barona, La Jolla, the San Pasqual, Pala, Jamul, Mesa Grande, Santa Ysabel and Morongo. The La Jolla and Rincon reservations were severely damaged by the fires.

The wildfires led the major Indian organizations to release statements in response to the disasters, as well as to urge other tribes to assist the California tribes in their time of need.

"The fires in Southern California affected many of our Tribal brothers and sisters in and around the San Diego area," the National Indian Gaming Association said in a statement announcing a donation of aid money. "All of us throughout Indian Country are deeply concerned for the people in the area and the families affected by one of the worst natural disasters to hit California."

Bigknife, a resident of Rancho Bernardo, 25 miles north of San Diego, knew she had to prepare to evacuate after watching the news.

"I had this funny feeling that maybe I should start packing some stuff," Bigknife said. "I packed important papers, pictures - mainly the older pictures that I could never replace - and I started loading the SUV. I thought, ‘If something happens, I'm ready to go.' "

When the sheriff's department drove through her neighborhood at 6 a.m. to evacuate her condominium complex, she was prepared.

What she wasn't prepared for were the 80 mph winds.

"It was super windy," Bigknife said. "You couldn't breathe because of the ash in the air, the smoke in the air. You just couldn't breathe at all. You could barely see anything. (The wind was) almost so strong you couldn't breathe. It had so much ash, soot and dust particles that you tried to cover up your mouth and nose."

As she headed south to her brother's home in Santee, she became overwhelmed by the quickly unfolding events.

"I didn't know what to do," Bigknife said. "I was really nervous, really scared, really upset."

After driving the 24 miles to her brother's home, she was safe.

George Lynch, a Cherokee, said his home in Escondido, 30 miles north of San Diego, was spared by the fires, although at the time it was just as scary to know the fires were close.

"The nearest house to us that burned was about half a mile away," Lynch said. "We stayed up most of the night (Oct. 21) ... watching the television and the column of smoke overhead. About 3 a.m. we noticed the glow to the east.

"It was all blowing south of us until about 5 a.m. when the wind clocked a little and the smoke started coming our way from all the burned areas, which brings heavy smoke and ash."

Lynch and his family received a reverse 911 call at about 9:30 a.m. Oct. 22, telling them to evacuate immediately.

"We were all packed up waiting for the call," Lynch said.

Like Bigknife, Lynch and his family packed only the things they needed, and irreplaceable items like photographs, computers, the family cat and a chest of family memorabilia.

The family stayed in Temecula, 30 miles north of Escondido, waiting for the go-ahead by officials to return home. But they spoke with neighbors who said their house was untouched by the fires except for some ash.

Bigknife said although she didn't lose her home and she was safe, she planned to help those who weren't as fortunate.

"It's weird how it all happened," Bigknife said. "How the fire would hit one home and miss the one next to it. It's been a very emotional time - it still is. The important thing is, I still have my home."

Christina Good Voice, Muscogee (Creek), is a reporter at the Cherokee Phoenix tribal newspaper in Tahlequah, Okla. She is a member of the board of directors of the Native American Journalists Association. As a student at the University of Oklahoma, Good Voice was a reznet reporter and wrote regular fashion columns. She had reporting internships at The Associated Press bureaus in Columbia, S.C., and Oklahoma City.

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