Let’s not forget the people who lost their homes during the Auburn 49er fire. But let us also remember all the people whose homes were saved by the firefighter. If you are one of those skeptics who does not believe in miracles, then you should tour Auburns fire zone. What the firefighters did to save homes in the wake of this fire storm is nothing short of a miracle. In some cases the sides of the houses are singed but the home saved. In many other cases the fire burned down between houses but the homes are unscathed.

Doing a good job covering the fire cannot be said of some of the media, however. Young cub reporters, that were on duty over the weekend, got the nod to go on scene. Over zealous, they often babbled aimlessly trying to sound as if they knew what they were talking about were sometimes giving out false information. At one point one of the reporters said that Home Depot had sustained fire damage. I knew that to be false since I had just driven by it. A half an hour latter he corrected it by saying that it was 84 Lumber.

I live in Saddleback and was evacuated very quickly and with no time to gather up too many things to take with us other than our cat. As my wife, son and I watched the live news reports on TV at a friend’s house across town, a young report standing in front of a burned down home stated that over 30% of Saddleback had burned down. Our hearts sank. As the reporter started listing the names of streets affected and as the camera pulled back to show the neighborhood we realized he was not standing in or near Saddleback.

At about 7:30, as things looked as if they were starting to settle down and we saw some people going back to check on their homes, we decided to do the same. Coming in on Dry Creek Road from Bell we were stopped at a check point at Black Oak golf course. I told the Sheriff’s officer where we lived and we wanted to see if our house was still standing. He told us that he could not let us go through due to all of the emergency vehicles in the roadway. And then with a warm smile he added the words that made us feel much better about things: “I just drove through Saddleback and went down your street. All of the homes are fine”.

Thank you fire fighters and law enforcement for doing an incredible job.