Photo by Eileen McFall/Flickr
Creative Commons/Some Rights Reserved.
Courier Staff Report
Sue Hinojoza, a former Science teacher at James Logan, has lost her home in Mountain Ranch to the massive Butte fire in the Sierra foothills.
Hinojoza, who has evacuated the area to San Jose, told her Facebook friends yesterday that a neighbor had informed that her home had been destroyed in the voracious blaze, which has devastated about 65,000 acres and destroyed at least 86 homes as of Sunday morning, according to CalFire.
“Everything that I own now could fit on the back seat of a VW bug,” she wrote on Facebook.
Current James Logan Language Arts Teacher Patrick Hannigan, advisor to The Courier, said Sunday that he is awaiting word on the fate of the Mountain Ranch house he built with his brother Steve Hannigan.
“Emergency officials are keeping everyone out of the area, so we won’t know for sure what happened until my brother sees it for himself,” Hannigan said. “I’m hoping against hope, but this is a very bad fire. Many people lost their homes, and, with the fire still out of control, many more people face that danger.”
The Butte fire started Thursday in the Jackson area. High temperatures, high winds and tortuous terrain contributed to the explosive growth of the fire. More than 3,000 firefighters are battling the blaze.
In a Sunday morning Facebook post, Hinojoza said she is trying to be “stoic” in the face of the unfolding tragedy, but she’s “extremely angry and feeling waves of despair. People we love are still in harm’s way!”