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Small Group Of Big Bear Residents Refuses To Leave Mountain

BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. 10.29.03, 5:35p

The Associated Press

Wildfires have closed in around this popular mountain resort town, forcing thousands of residents to flee in recent days, but a small group refused to leave Wednesday, insisting faith and firefighters would keep them safe.

The heart of Big Bear Valley, home to about 15,000 people, is usually mobbed with tourists in quaint cafes and specialty gift shops. This day it is eerily silent except for the clang of flags banging against poles outside empty businesses and homes.

A steady stream of vehicles loaded with couches, televisions and other household items has been snaking down the mountain along Highway 18 for days.

San Bernardino County sheriff's Deputy Jack Nelson drove through the city with his loudspeaker, announcing a mandatory evacuation and urging residents to evacuate.

"We're basically telling everyone to get out, but we can't push them out," Nelson said.

One of the few business still operating was OJ's Doughnut shop, which kept a steady supply of doughnuts and coffee flowing to sheriff's deputies and firefighters battling the wildfires.

A skeleton staff at KBHR-FM radio planned to broadcast fire reports until the last minute.

The group was going to stay until officials dismantled the emergency operations center in town, said Rick Herrick, president and general manager of the rock 'n' roll station.

For residents who stayed, authorities handed out yellow crime scene tape to put on their homes so that if flames came through, firefighters would know people were there.

Some who stayed propped ladders and garden hoses against their homes so they could quickly soak the roof if flames approached.

"Everyone is telling us to leave, but we're waiting 'til we see the flames," said Chrisann Maurer, as she watered down her yard and her house in heavy wind. "I'm afraid, but I've got a lot of faith. I just think there is enough people praying that we might be safe," she said.

Rik Hardesty and his wife Cheri said they didn't think it was time to leave yet.

"There are two things keeping us here," Rik Hardesty said, "faith, and the fact that the firefighters here are the baddest in the world."

Mark Peterson, a firefighter with Big Bear Lake Fire Department, called those who refused to leave "crazy."

He said the fire was moving toward Big Bear Lake from the southwest, northwest and west.

"It's incredible. They're rewriting history with this fire," Peterson said. "Nobody knows where this thing is going to go."

"This looks like a ghost town," Herrick said. "But it's our duty to get the information out. The signal is here and a lot of people who evacuated are tuned in because they're not able to get information specifically on Big Bear anywhere else."