News About the Southern California Fire
Posted by Meredith on Oct 30, 2007. Filed under Locations
Comments (3), Permalink
We’ve all been on pins and needles here at Here Comes The Guide, wondering if any of our Southern California wedding locations were affected by the fires that are still raging after over a week. I’d like to share some heartwarming news from our friend Margie Hopkins, who has both family homes and an event location in Fallbrook. She represents the gorgeous Fallbrook wedding location, The Grand Tradition, and we’re so thankful that it was spared! 
Margie’s comments show the undeniable spirit of those affected, and what can happen when a community comes together after disaster strikes:
Dear Here Comes the Guide,
Thanks for the kind email checking in on us. We are among the safe in Fallbrook. The Grand Tradition and our friends there are safe, also. My husband, Frank, and I were evacuated on Monday along with thousands of other residents.
Early Thursday, we were on a list of 12 residents allowed past the military police to reenter Fallbrook so we could man the phone lines of the main (and only) info center in Fallbrook. We were privileged to spend 4 days on the phones talking with distressed residents letting them know who could return and who couldn’t. We let them know when they could expect to return. We had lists of houses destroyed and where those people needed to go to get help. It was such a blessing to tell some folks that there house was not damaged.
Our own home was within a half-mile of the burn. Our son’s home was within a quarter-mile of the burn area. We are told by our Fire Department, that had the winds kept up, all of Fallbrook would be gone. 
We are very humbled by this experience, and are now planning our best route to be of assistance to our fellow “Fallbrookians”. It is a different world, and we are speechless to explain the experience of waving and saying “thanks” to Military Police driving down our small private road to check on us. It is also heart-rending to see the high-spirits of our Fallbrook-neighbors who have lost everything and their positive attitudes toward recovery. There were no deaths in Fallbrook. What more can be said!
Our friend, a Navy Chaplain, will tell you that it was not “nature” but our thousands of prayers to God that saved us.
If you have an evacuation story or news about your wedding location, please let us know. We’re happy to help connect those who need help with those who are offering help. Also know that our hearts go out to all our friends, family, clients and colleagues in So Cal. While our wishes for safety may be meager at this time of trauma for so many, the depth of our caring is immense.
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Comments
Meredith;
I’ve been hearing from some of our amazing clients at Here Comes the Guide—their heroism & harrowing tales. Here’s a few examples in hopes our other friends in so cal will keep us updated at this blog by leaving us comments:
MELISSA ALLEN, AT THE EBELL MALIBU OFFERS HELP TO DISPLACED EVENTS. “ . . . I will make these requests a top priority – anything to help sooth the frazzled nerves of locations hit by tragedy as well as their clients….”
PEGGY KELLY, ONE OF OUR CERTIFIED CATERERS AT TIMELESS WEDDINGS: –”. . . With Timeless being located in Pasadena, we were just covered with smoke.Plesae let us know if there is anyone who needs help as we are all in this together!”
NILI STEVENS OF RANCHO LAS LOMAS IN NEWPORT BEACH REPORTS ABOUT ANIMALS: “Thanks to the firefighters, neighbors & animal control we were able to keep our animals safe and were ready to move them at a moments notice. Our crew has been working tirelessly to clean up the wind & smoke damage….Keep us in your thoughts.”
THE CAKE STUDIO’S LINDA GOLDSHEFT IN FOUNTAIN VALLEY hadn’t heard from her buddies at RANCHO LAS LOMAS so was quite relieved to hear friends AND animals were safe, when we forwarded Nili’s email (above) to her.
GERALDINE GILLILAND OF RANCHO CHIQUITA IN MALIBU PULLED OFF A WEDDING WITH FIRES ON THREE SIDES OF HER. Her story is so unbelievable we’ll write about it in later blog.
HILARY WEIRETER OF THE RANCHO CAMULOS MUSEUM EVACUATES: “thanks allison and here comes the guide staff!! first the winds, then fire, then heat, then rain…and we still had a wonderful wedding on saturday, the 27th in the evening!!our little town of piru was ordered to evacuate but we at rancho camulos were safe and sound pretty much the whole time.it is lovely being part of the here comes the guide “family” and we appreciate your concern. here’s hoping all the rest of the recipients of your e-mail are doing well.”
Update from Meredith from Here Comes the Guide:
We got this email from Gerri Gilliland, owner of one of our favorite locations, Rancho Chiquita, about the harrowing experience she had with an event she was hosting on the day the fires started:
Alison,
Thanks for your concerns. Here is my account of the morning. I know a lot of weddings did not go on here in Malibu last Sunday due to the fire. We had a wedding scheduled here at Rancho Chiquita (http://www.herecomestheguide.com/location/detail/rancho-chiquita/).
The wind had blown fiercely all night and I was awakened at 6am by the fire which we could see from the property. I called the Fire Department and left a message to call me back. I called the poor groom, Eliot, at 6:30am to tell him about the wind and fire. He still wanted to have the wedding here and asked me if I would be willing to move all 130 guests inside my house. I said I would, though this would have involved moving every stick of furniture out of the house and into the garage, and then moving all the rentals back up the 60 or so steps from the guest house where we had them delivered the night before. (Later we found that a lot of the rentals had blown off the hillside.)
I had a crew of three workers on hand. Fortunately, the Fire Dept called me back on the other line (thank God for caller ID!) They told me the roads were closed and I told the groom I would move the wedding to one of my restaurants.
He spoke to his bride Natalie, and they agreed to move the wedding to my restaurant Lula( http://www.gerrigilliland.com/lula/index.html).
Here comes the real challenge: How fast can I pack my truck with essential rentals for his wedding that I do not own at my restaurant? How fast can I move my staff? Get hold of vendors, florists? Call my General Manager and chefs? Call the guests and get them to the new location? All the while being scared to death of the approaching fire and wind.
The police came up and told us to pack our own personal belongings. But we calmly packed everything that we could fit into the truck. My guys cheerfully packed up the truck and champagne glasses (at least the ones that hadn’t blown down the hillside), specialty linens, cook tops for the omelete bar, pancake bar, roast beef carving station etc etc etc.
Victor got down to the bottom of Corral and was told PCH was closed. He began his very long journey up Kanan and to the 101 freeway to the 405 freeway to the 10 freeway to Santa Monica. They arrived exactly 2 ½ hours later, a 30 minute journey at best. My staff did a fantastic job of setting up and the wedding went on.
I know Eliot and Natalie were very happy and are spending their honeymoon in Hawaii.
Love Geraldine
Wow, Gerri, You and your crew are amazing! Thanks for sharing this very dramatic story. We’re so glad it turned out well for the bride and groom in the end and that you are safe!
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More from Meredith:
We have heard countless stories just like this from so many of our friends and colleagues in Southern California. All the stories of neighbors helping neighbors and kind people saving animals for others just makes you remember that people are really, in their hearts, good.