With tens of thousands of fire evacuees looking for a place to stay during a pandemic, where is everyone going?

ON FRIDAY, AUG. 21, CARS AND TRUCKS CRAMMED WITH CHILDREN, CLOTHES AND FURNITURE HEADED WEST ON CARMEL VALLEY ROAD TOWARD A BRILLIANT ORANGE SUNSET. Many were fleeing the thick smoke from the River and Carmel fires. Some were getting ahead of an evacuation; around 3:30pm, officials issued a warning for the area, anticipating orders might follow soon.

Hidden Valley Music Seminars had opened its doors just hours before the warning was issued to serve evacuees from the Cachagua area.

The music venue has dormitories that make for easy spacing during Covid-19. “Normally around this time we would have musicians from all over the world stay here for our master classes,” Founder Peter Meckel says. “They’ve just been sitting there empty.”

By 7pm, the dormitories were still mostly empty. While smoke wove through the oaks on Hidden Valley’s property, an eerie silence took over by sundown, disrupted by the occasional laughter of children. About a dozen families came by in the afternoon, but by evening, just four remained.

“Things are changing fast,” Meckel said. “People are making their own plans. I know there’s one family going to stay with a friend in Carmel Highlands and some people just heading out of the county all together.” Meckel himself had packed a couple of shirts and boxes of belongings in his car, ready to leave.

And indeed, orders to evacuate followed at 9am the next morning, Aug. 22. Officials held a virtual press conference, realizing their orders to evacuate some 20,000 people from an area spanning from Highway 68 to Carmel Valley, including Corral de Tierra and San Benancio, and all of Carmel Valley Village, was a heavy lift. Besides getting people out safely before predicted thunderstorms, they had to help figure out: Where would everyone stay?

Since the fires began on Aug. 16, up to 31,000 residents have been under evacuation orders, another 33,700 under warnings. The county created two evacuation day centers where people can pick up snacks and water and charge their devices, and four overnight shelters. They also allowed people with RVs to camp at Laguna Seca.

(As of press time, with many orders lifted, those shelters are closed; evacuees can check in at Salinas Valley Fairgrounds or Monterey Conference Center for lodging referrals to stay at Asilomar Conference Grounds.)

Buses for Monterey-Salinas Transit arrived preemptively at Rippling River in Carmel Valley on Friday night, picking up 22 older residents, three of them wheelchair-bound, to evacuate them to Sherwood Hall, the county’s alternative housing site for Covid-19, then a shelter for evacuees.

However, as Meckel saw play out at Hidden Valley, many evacuees found alternatives to shelters. The city of Monterey reported Aug. 24 that 60 people had registered to use their shelter at the conference center, where they set up two ballrooms and three conference rooms. But only one person spent the night on Saturday; none spent the night on Sunday. Most opted to sleep in their vehicles with their families and animals (the conference center was not equipped to house animals), and used the conference center as a backup plan.

One displaced Carmel Valley couple, Kelsey Haynes and Taylor Shapiro, along with their dog Sequoia, checked in to a county shelter and was referred by the American Red Cross to stay at the Portola Hotel. On Aug. 22, they went to Seaside High to grab some food and toiletries at an evacuee distribution and breakfast event organized by All In Monterey, a grassroots group that has been collecting donations of food, money and necessities for evacuees.

“It was a whirlwind,” Haynes says. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed the property will be OK when we come back home.”

STAY UP TO DATE

• Cal Fire provides updates on the River Fire and Carmel Fire at 7am and 7pm daily at fire.ca.gov.incidents.
• Los Padres National Forest provides daily updates on the Dolan Fire at inciweb.nwcg.gov.
• Both Cal Fire and Los Padres National Forest officials do virtual daily briefings on Facebook, and invite questions from the public.
• Check evacuation maps and notifications, as well as information about evacuation shelters and fire information, at co.montereycounty.ca.us/2020fires.
• To register for text updates about emergencies, including fires, text your zip code to 888777.
• Register for updates from Monterey County Office of Emergency Services, via Alert Monterey County, at alertmontereycounty.org.