A second community meeting on the Gifford Fire was held Friday night at Branch Elementary School, where over 100 people asked questions and spoke about their concerns.
“The last recorded fire over here is 1919," said one Cal Fire official. "And over here in 1950.”
With 1 million gallons of fire retardant dropped on the flames and more than 3,600 personnel fighting the fire, Friday marks exactly one week since the Gifford Fire broke out and has since grown to over 100,000 acres.
“It’s concerning and concerning for the future too,” said George Hansen, an Arroyo Grande resident.
“Our highest priority right now is this corner right here and protecting the community of Arroyo Grande and Huasna Valley,” said one Cal Fire official.
Huasna Road, located just a short distance from where the meeting was held, has been under a soft closure at the school road intersection since Thursday. George Hansen lives down that street.
“And just waiting for the other shoe to drop and move out,” Hansen said.
Hansen started packing once he received an evacuation warning Thursday morning on his phone.
“Then we started putting things in boxes and deciding which things are going to be left behind and which we are going to take,” Hansen said.
Arroyo Grande resident Regina Arons says people who live near Huasna have taken action.
“We’ve had nonstop horse trailers coming by because I'm right on the corner of Huasna," Arons said. "Trailer after trailer, just a lot of evacuations of animals going on."
She attended the meeting because she wanted to find out what she could do to protect her property.
“If you have garden hoses around your house, have them ready for us to deploy,” said one Cal Fire official.
Cal fire officials say they are doing everything they can to keep both people and property safe.
“We have people in here 24/7 who are staffing these fire lines," said one Cal Fire official. "They will never be unattended.”
