Going home again

Lauren Vane

More than one week after the landslide that forced an evacuation of

Bluebird Canyon, the owners of 20 homes that may be a total loss

still have limited, if any, access to retrieve salvageable

belongings.

From those homes that are accessible, police and firefighters,

along with volunteers and hired help, have worked with residents to

cautiously remove whatever they can.

After last week’s slide, which affected homes from Madison Place

to Bluebird Canyon Drive, 22 homes were red-tagged, considered unsafe

to enter, and 14 homes were yellow-tagged, many due to their

proximity to the slide area.

In the dusty center of the slide on the crumpled asphalt that once

was Flamingo Road, homeowners spent Wednesday afternoon lugging heavy

tables, dressers and boxes out of their homes. Firemen in full gear

stood guard on the perimeters of the slide area, listening for any

possible sound that the land was moving again.

Everyone who steps foot into the hot zone is given the safety

speech: if the blow horn sounds, run toward Oriole Drive -- it’s the

only way out.

In case the land slides again, police and firefighters keep

careful count of how many people are in the area.

Wednesday, the city secured a ban against low-flying aircraft

within a one-mile radius of Bluebird Canyon in an effort to block out

loud background noise that could mask the sound of another landslide,

said Fire Department Battalion Chief Kris Head.

By the afternoon on the day of the slide, homeowners of some of

the yellow-tagged homes were permitted to go in with a police escort

and retrieve important belongings.

Several residents of red-tagged homes saw the damage for the first

time last Friday. Accompanied by police, a city engineer and members

of a Red Cross emotional support team, homeowners got an initial,

shocking look at nature’s dealings.

Staring at the twisted frame of his home, homeowner John Gustafson

could barely speak.

“It’s just horrible, what can I say,” Gustafson said, in between

tears.

Gustafson’s bright blue home on Bluebird Canyon Drive was so

unstable that police could barely allow him to go beyond the garage.

Down the street, Mike Tiffany entered his living room. Decorated

with modern furniture and glass vases still standing upright, the

room looked untouched -- except for the tree stump protruding through

the otherwise-perfect wooden floor.

“Until you see it you don’t really know,” Tiffany said.

Looking out through the floor-to-ceiling windows, Tiffany pointed

out trees, pots and even a garden that once sat on the hillside high

above, now just a few feet away from the living room windows.

Walking through the home, Tiffany looked in disbelief at the house

where he has lived for five years.

“I just finished remodeling that, the plasma TV was going to go

there,” Tiffany said, pointing toward an empty wall in the living

room.

Aware that the house was likely still unstable, Tiffany left the

home and closed the closed behind him. As he walked away from his

property, he passed the large coastal redwood tree formerly from the

backyard, laying horizontal like a sleeping giant, in the front yard.

Those residents who were allowed back into their homes, even if

for only 10 minutes, sought to gather the things most important to

them: paintings, furniture, pictures, toys.

For 81-year old Elva Ashford, it was her strawberries.

“She wants to grab the strawberries she bought at the farmer’s

market so she can make jam,” said Ashford’s daughter, Nancy

Satterberg.

Ashford, a 42-year Bluebird Canyon resident, was rescued during

the slide from her Flamingo Drive home.

It’s funny, the things she thinks of at her age, Satterberg said.

“My mom, bless her heart, they got her out so fast,” Satterberg

said. “She only had a robe and nightie.”

Waiting in front of city hall for police to escort them to the

home, they had not yet seen their home, but Satterberg said her

mother was keeping a positive attitude about the situation.

“Her attitude is just great; she has strong faith in Jesus and she

knows if she loses the house that’s where she’s supposed to be,”

Satterberg said.