With around 40 miles of Interstate 5 severed by the Delta Fire, Dunsmuir was cut off and under voluntary evacuation Thursday.
That afternoon a blanket of smoke covering the city seemed to lift one minute, then, a half hour later it would suddenly blot out the sun. A sense of stunned dread hung in the air of the historic railroad community. Locals were filled with a range of emotions as they prepped for another night under siege.
Ron McCloud, owner of Dunsmuir Hardware said the smoky summer has kept away tourists and cut into business. He’s been selling less fishing tackle, but over the last 36 hours there’s been a brisk trade on a few other items.
“Hoses and hose fittings and sprinklers,” he said. “Everyone’s wanting to wet down their property and so on, on the other hand, nobody is going to paint their house on a day like this.”
McCloud said the nearing fire lit a candle under plenty of locals.
“People who’ve been talking all summer about ‘Oh, ‘I need to get prepared, I need to get some of the things ready in case I have to leave in a hurry.’ Now they’re doing it, because it’s in our backyard,” McCloud said.
But down at the Wheelhouse, a local café, about a dozen people seemed determined to escape, at least mentally, passing the time moving goblins around a game board.
Meanwhile, Curtis Smith, a retired sanitation worker whose trailer was moved for safety was sipping a Modelo Especial at Spirits Bar & Lounge. A life-long resident, Smith said this year’s fires have been the worst in his lifetime.
“A lot of people are worried,” Smith said. “We’re in the middle here in Dunsmuir, we got fires on both sides. So, I just hope nothing catches fire in here. Because if it does, it will be bad. It will be real bad.”
Jeremy Price, an artist and musician said Wednesday night was rough.
“A lot of people were getting really super anxious and uncomfortable and I feel like I was the calm in the storm because I just invited everybody over and made dinner for them, and we watched good movies and laughed, we watched Spaceballs and then Back to School with Rodney Dangerfield,” Price said.
Price’s friend Matt McClellan, a land developer, said he’s ready to bug out.
“Got the car loaded, the truck is full of gas, and just, just kind of waiting,” he said.
Over the years, McClellan said he’s noticed a disturbing trend. He said residents in the Dunsmuir area just saw two other major fires, and now they’re being hit again even closer to home.
“I’m like going, is it ever going to end? And it seems consistently every year, consistently, it is getting worse in Northern California,” McClellan said.
It’s almost as if the fires are following him.
“I was involved three years ago in Lake County, where they had a fire there, and then last year in Mendocino County, had a buddy where fire came within 15 miles of his property and now I’ve relocated up to here, and it’s just like, never ending. It’s a, It’s a nightmare,” he said.
Back at Dunsmuir Hardware, McCloud is clearly through waiting for winter.
“We’re trying to find someone who knows how to do a rain dance,” McCloud said. “And if you could refer us to someone with those skills, we’d really like to know about it.”