Tavern in evacuated mountain town stays open to serve Park Fire crews
By Kevin Ko
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BUTTE MEADOWS, California (KPIX) — Butte Meadows is under a Park Fire evacuation order, leaving properties, homes, campgrounds and businesses empty.
There is one exception in town: the Bambi Inn.
“I’ve never evacuated. Never. And they’ve evacuated us a lot,” owner Thomas Neverkovec said. “Believe me, if it was coming and I knew it was coming, I’d be going.”
Neverkovec has owned the Bambi Inn for 25 years and he has been a firefighter for 35 years.
As of Thursday afternoon, the Park Fire had burned 393,013 acres and destroyed 483 buildings. 6,080 firefighters are working to battle California’s largest wildfire of the year, which is 18 percent contained.
“(The Park Fire) is the fastest one I’ve seen going, besides Paradise, of course,” Neverkovec said, referencing the Camp Fire of 2018 which ravaged the town of Paradise. “This one here, (firefighters) are getting it. It kind of threw them for a loop a couple times but now they’re on it. They’ll get it.”
The Bambi Inn features a sign over its entrance which reads “We don’t dial 9-1-1” featuring two crossed sniper rifles.
“Well, they never come up here anyway,” Neverkovec laughed. “We’ve got to take care of our own up here.”
Contrary to the sign, the Bambi Inn is staying open for first responders.
Officers, deputies, firefighters and contractors in Butte Meadows are stationed at the Bambi Inn, the only place in town with an internet connection.
A power outage is also affecting Butte Meadows, where there is no phone signal.
“Bambi always caters to law enforcement,” Neverkovec said.
Neverkovec said he didn’t want to leave because “we don’t want our hometown to go up in smoke.”
He also expressed worries about the months ahead.
“These next two months are the busy ones. Usually, this is the beginning of fire season for us,” he said. “We’ll just keep going on this (wildfire). Get it done.”
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