CORRECTED: Automated Phone System Used During Palm Springs Fire
People living off Racquet Club Drive are as happy their homes are safe, but fire investigators are still baffled looking into exactly what caused Friday’s blaze.
A Palm Springs fire fighter hikes through the rocky terrain where Friday’s fire sparked. It is believed that it started off Tramway Road. But, if downed power lines were the cause, the sand at the point of contact usually turns to glass with the intense heat. A team of pole inspectors say they couldn’t find those tell tale signs. Instead, some of the clues are conflicting, adding to the mystery.
“We have a flash point that’s down the hill. Right underneath the cross-arm, you can see a flash point,” said one Verizon employee.
Memories of the unpredictable winds and thick smoke stay with the firefighters still mapping the exact acreage of the blaze.
Palm Springs Fire Captain Mike Wills said, “The winds came through here at 50 miles an hour. I’ve never seen it before. I’ve been here 30 years. I was out here maybe 30, 40 yards away and we said, “get behind a rock!” It was crazy. We all had some serious moments of doubt when the winds changed on us. The winds changed direction on us many 4 or 5 times. And not just, ‘oh, look, the wind is turning around.’ The winds just stopped and went the other way in a matter of seconds.”
Palm Springs used its automated phone calling systems for the first time. Residents who got the call say it worked great. Others who were already focused on the quick moving fire say they were confused on what to do.
Chino Cone resident Richard Kay remarked, “I really feel that the city council or somebody should give me a little education on what to do in the situation that happened Friday at 5:30. I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t going to leave my house under any circumstances. I was here in 1980 when the last fire came about and it came very close to my home and the little cinders could have leaped off the fire, got in the roof. I could have put these things out with a little hose. But the Fire Department very clearly said to me, ‘it isn’t the fire you need to worry about, it’s the smoke.'”
The simple answer is: if a police officer tells you there’s a mandatory evacuation, you must leave. If you don’t, you can be cited for a misdemeanor.
For more information on protecting yourself from fires, we have a special report on our website.
