Mike Drew posted this earlier today on the DeTomaso email forum
All,
I've received a number of inquiries from European owners concerned about
the massive wildfires burning relatively near my house, so I thought I'd give
an update to everyone.
The attached map shows the burned areas. My house is indicated by the
blue dot in the center right area of the map; we are about 12 miles east from
the nearest fire, and the winds have shifted from north to south so the fire
is burning away from us.
There are numerous PCNC members living in the region who have been affected
to various degrees. Mike Russo is a new owner, and his house was smack in
the middle of the large fire region north of Santa Rosa (on the left side
of the map). We just spoke with him; somehow he missed the first
notifications and he was awakened at 5:00 a.m. Monday morning and had literally only
one minute to get out. His power was out so he wasn't able to normally open
his garage door, so they jumped in the cars parked in the street and raced
away. Their home, and all their nice cars including their beautiful
big-block Pantera, were reduced to ashes. :<[
Just to the southwest, there are two medium-sized fires with a round fire
symbol pictured in between them on the map. Another new owner, Tom Leonard,
lives right in between those two fires on the road that runs directly
north-south, outside the town of Glen Ellen. Many of you met him at the
Monterey POCA Fun Rally, as he was driving his Ford GT instead of his Pantera. He
was awakened at 5:00 a.m. Monday morning and ordered to evacuate immediately.
He and his wife took the Ford GT and their pickup truck and fled to
Petaluma, not all that far away but well away from the danger. They then went
back in the pickup to retrieve the Pantera, but the authorities prevented
them from returning. We have been watching the fire maps constantly, and it
seems as though the 'bulge' on the western edge of the fire on the east side
of the road is approaching his house. His road is in a small valley and
his house is on the hillside on the eastern side of the road; there is a steep
hill with a mansion at the top of it behind his house, and the fire is just
on the other side of the hill, on the eastern slope, a few hundred yards
from the mansion, which is a few hundred yards from his home. The fires are
generally moving south so it seems at least possible that his home will be
spared and his Pantera will survive, but that is FAR from certain.
Chuck and Lori Banks live near the large grassy area on the eastern side of
Santa Rosa; they are about equidistant between two fires, a mile or so away
in either direction. Last time I spoke with him, he had backed his
Pantera out and was poised to make a getaway, and was hosing down his property
with his garden hose.
Ron Southern lives on the west side of Sonoma, near Hwy 116, and appears to
be relatively safe, but he's not answering his phone, although he did post
about Tom on the PI forum yesterday.
Mike and Nancy Haney live in Napa on the west side of Hwy 29. They have a
large fire on the hill behind them a few miles away, but it seems to be
moving south so they are probably safe for now. I don't know if they have
evacuated, and if so, if they took their Pantera (although as it is their only
collector car, I would certainly hope they would do so).
Our thoughts go out to all these people, but especially to Mike Russo who
literally lost everything he owned in the blink of an eye…:<[
Mike
