From Tom Preston:

To All O-Ongoites:

Many of you have tried to get in touch with me or others from Camp O-Ongo. Margaret and I had left Running Springs for a couple of Elderhostels in AZ on Oct. 20th. We didn’t get back home until this last Sunday, Nov. 4th. We have been trying to put the many pieces together on this fire. It seems that a fire near Green Valley Lake got started on Monday, Oct. 22nd and was driven by strong North winds thru the Green Valley Lake area (destroying many homes and businesses). Then down into the Deep Creek area and up the slope into Camp and Running Springs. The residents of Running Springs were forced to leave the area. Several homes in the area were destroyed. None of the homes on our street were destroyed. Jim & Pat Preston’s home is fine. Tim & Holly Preston’s home is fine. Steve Lawless’s home is fine. Bruce Warner’s home is o.k., but the fire came right up to his house (two of his neighbors lost their homes). Anne (Nichol) Orhi’s home is fine. The houses on top of Nob Hill are o.k. with the fire coming very close (one house on the east side of Nob Hill Drive about half way up was destroyed).

At the old Camp O-Ongo (now Pali Mountain Camp) it was a little different story as we had heard many conflicting tales. So, my brother, Jim, and I drove over yesterday to have a look. Driving into Camp everything looked fine (many of the trees at Camp had been killed by the bark beetles and removed a few years ago). There are still several trees around the new Lodge (built in 1954 on the hill just east of the site where the old Lodge once stood - it burnt in January 1954). However, as we walked around to the east side of the Lodge (the side facing Deep Creek) we found a different story. The fire had roared up the canyon of O-Ongo Creek from Deep Creek burning everything in its path. Cabins #10 and #16 were completely gone, only the concrete slabs for the cabin and porch were remaining (we had numbered our cabins as they were built or replaced – Pali has renumbered their cabins to be in consecutive order). Cabin #8 had a wooden porch and a small portion of the porch was burned. The Rifle Range frame was destroyed as was the new storage house at Pali’s new amphitheater near the rifle range (the benches at the amphitheater were o.k.). Cabins Sunset, #5, #6 and #7 had been removed some years back. We walked out to where the Chapel had been during our camp (but abandon for several years - many of those trees had been removed when the bark beetles killed them). There were still pieces of four benches there, but the fire had burned all around the site and down into Fern Valley. We also walked up to Rag Point and all you could see were burnt trees (the tall pine tree just west of the circle had also been removed, having been killed by the bark beetles). We next walked back to the Lodge and the platform which Pali had built just east of the Lodge was still in fine shape but the tent was gone – I assume a victim of the fire. As we walked past the Craft Shop we could see the fire had burned on the ground around that building. Passing Cabin #13 it was fine, but Cabin #15 was gone as a result of the fire coming up the O-Ongo Creek bed. The fire actually burned right up to the south side of the Swimming Pool fence and the east side of the Tennis Courts where it was stopped. It is my understanding that one lone firefighter from Sacramento was responsible for saving the Lodge before four more fire trucks arrived.

We did have a chance to talk with Andy Wexler from Pali, and they were busy cleaning up the area as they were planning to reopen this Friday. He hopes to have those cabins lost to the fire replaced by our Reunion, October 3-5, 2008.

Thanks for your concerns and prayers. Tom