Saturday, August 28, 2021

I remember a fire in the 1950s Near the Lake Tahoe Area

Knowing my father he was trying to get to 395 as he liked going that route south to Los Angeles in summers back then even when it was hot. I must have been 8 or 10 years of age because I think we were driving the 1956 Buick which was yellow and white so this was likely 1956 to 1958 somewhere in there. We had been to a religious conclave in Mt. Shasta which is something we did almost every summer in August. So, this likely was after it was over we were driving south down Highway 89 towards Lake Tahoe. I remember the fire had cut the power lines to the town and we needed gasoline. So, the gas station owner got a gasoline generator out and was only giving customers 5 gallons of gas each until he ran out so it was enough to get away from the fire. He didn't want anyone to burn up because the town we were in likely was going to burn down. We drove along the fire on the road we were on for some time before we found this one gas station open. It was the only one open for 50 or 100 miles along this route because the power was cut by the power lines burning down. I remember how scared the adults were trying to get there 5 gallons of gas before they all burned up there in that town. We were glad to get our 5 gallons of gas to get down to Highway 395 and on down south along the western side of the Sierra mountains. 

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