American Chronicle

October 25, 2007

Chasing the Orange County Santiago Fire: A Single Mother's Account

Kobina Wright

With all of the news coverage of the 15 fires including the one that is currently blazing in my area, my curiosity finally got the best of me last night. After work I waited until the afternoon traffic died down; packed up my daughter and headed for the Santiago Canyon fire, to get a first hand look at this destructive force that’s responsible for all the disruption around me, here in Orange County.

At about 7:20 p.m. I hopped on the I-5 South and headed towards Irvine, glancing every few seconds to the hills in the distance to see if I could spot any flashes of orange flames. Even the night sky couldn’t shield the visible smoke, and as we grew closer to the canyons my head began to ache and I could feel the smoke burning my chest. The air conditions were horrible, nothing I would want my daughter to go through, but I couldn’t leave her at home at night by herself. She’s only 11.

I told her, “We’re only going to be out here for a little bit, then we’re going right back home.”

“Okay!” she said. She was just as curious to see the fire as I was I believe, especially since she’s heard kids at school claim to be able to see the fire from their homes.

We exited at Jamboree and drove towards hills through the ever brightly lit and bustling Tustin Market Place. Remembering how my mother told me that parts of Irvine Boulevard were closed off on Monday, I turned onto it until we could see the orange glow just behind a hill.

I made twists and turns into evacuated communities, and dark canyon roads where traffic lights were no longer working, and cones blocked off entire lanes. It was a ghost town but I wanted to just get a little closer to the fire so that we could get a better look. Then something happened. My motherly instincts kicked in. The only way I was going to get a better look at the fire is if I drove down one of the dark canyon roads and in the dark, with my child, in an evacuated community, it just didn’t seem like a wise choice.

Both of our heads were aching as we headed for home, and though we were both disappointed that we couldn’t chase the fire like we wanted to, we still were able to see a portion of the effects, the burning smoke, the glow of the hills against the night sky, the gorgeous and ominously evacuated homes. We probably drove by charred land too, but we couldn’t tell because of the darkness.

Today, the Orange County California Fire Authority reports that the fire is continuing to move east and southeast, and is back to 30% containment. The Santiago fire is expected to move into Riverside County within the next 12-24 hours and currently, there is a $150,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction for this arson fire.

Kobina Wright

Wright is a second generation Southern California native and attended the University of Georgia for two years before transferring to California State University, Fullerton, where she earned her BA in journalism, minoring in Afro-Ethnic Studies.

Wright has written for publications such as LACMA Magazine, The Daily Titan, and CYH Magazine. In 2004 she wrote her third volume of poetry titled, "Say It! Say Gen-o-cide!!" − dedicated to the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. In 2003 Wright created the Hodaoa-Anibo language and in 2004 published the first edition Hodaoa-Anibo Dictionary.