SoCal mountain communities are still clearing snow from a rare blizzard, while others are trapped weeks later
Lake Arrowhead, California. – A winter wonderland just before spring has hit most parts of the United States in the past few weeks, from a nor’easter in the Northeast to a rare snow storm in Southern California.
In the San Bernardino Mountains, where the residents are used to Wildfires, not blizzards, some are still trapped, others have been left without a home for three weeks since nearly 10 feet of snow pounded homes, businesses and roads. At least 13 people died. And now, what remains is a slushy mess and slow melting snow.
The last time the area received a similar significant snowfall was in 1991 during the “March Miracle”, when up to six feet of snow fell.
San Bernardino County in Southern California is the largest county in the country, spanning over 20,000 square miles. (Fox News)
“We don’t get blizzard warnings in this area. I wouldn’t say it’s rare,” said Eric Sherwin, San Bernardino Fire Department public information officer.
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San Bernardino County, the largest in the United States, spanning more than 20,000 square feet, was no less than Snow storm warning in decades.
“This storm was so different,” Sherwin said. “We’re looking at record level snowfall in so many of these communities that life has pretty much stopped.”
Big Bear Valley is located about 15 miles east of the community hardest hit by this year’s storm. Residents were buried under more than five feet of snow in late January 2010. From The first storms of the winter In November 2009 to March 2010, that area received nearly nine and a half feet of snow. By comparison, the mountain communities in the San Bernardino National Forest have been trapped with the same amount of snow in days.
One woman in Crestline, California, and her husband woke up to a white wall surrounding their home.
“We had a couple of our rooftop balconies just smashed to smithereens on top of all our patio furniture, and a ring of fire and all sorts of things took everything out. We really brought that sound up. I thought, Oh my God, what’s next? What happens next?” Paige Renfro said. . “At the time, our roof had at least four feet in it, and this is a big house with a lot of roof space.”
About eight feet of snow surrounded Big Renfrew’s home in Crestline, Calif., after a rare snowstorm on Feb. 3. 24, 2023. About three feet of snow remains after three weeks.
She couldn’t even see the house across from her a week ago.
She and her husband lived in Crestline, California, for 38 years in the San Bernardino Mountains, living in the “treetops”. Their house, which is located on a steep slope, was not damaged, but not everyone was so lucky.
The residents of Renfrew have become a “command post,” Paige said, with a generator, food, and even their own snowplow.
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“We have two girls who live two doors down, and they and their cats couldn’t go out to get help… They put a little sign in their window that said ‘Help Us Trapped,'” Renfro said. “The problem was we couldn’t see the sign because the drifts were higher. So finally, we were digging, and my husband looked inside and saw that mark and they dug it.”
The storm affected 52 miles from start to finish, and the San Bernardino County Fire Department received more than 1,800 calls.
They have a fleet of eight snowcats equipped with firefighting equipment, which is the largest fleet in the region. With a “complete loss of road structures”, snowcats were the only vehicles used during the worst of the icy roads.
“Because of those, we didn’t have a single person call 911 that we couldn’t reach. Thanks in large part to the snowcats,” Sherwin said.
And they returned to the traditional fire engines and ambulances of the old days with the thaw. In the days after the storm, they used ATVs on the land and fire boats on the lakes.
The San Bernardino County Fire Department used a fleet of eight snowcats during the worst part of the storm. Fire Station Number 91 in Lake Arrowhead, California, is still surrounded by snow drifts on March 15, 2023, three weeks after the blizzard. (Fox News/Ashley Soriano)
Officials are still assessing the damage, but residents face rebuilding destroyed homes, digging up their submerged cars, and making sure everyone gets out successfully. Most of the damage was to parking lots, sheds, garages, and other structures that were not built to support the weight of several feet of snow.
Michael Ratschaw is originally from Crestline but currently lives in Topanga Beach, California. He broke his ribs visiting, and now he’s riding in the aftermath at a friend’s house.
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“You know, weeks later, it snowed inside. I haven’t seen this much snow since I lived here,” Rachao said.
Goodwin’s, one of the only grocery stores serving the communities of Lake Arrowhead and Crestline, remains closed after snow damaged the property. It has been open since 1946.
“It took about five minutes to go and get bread or go get milk, and we’ll miss that for a while,” Renfro said. “They (the owners) have a really positive attitude about it, so it felt better to hear that they are so positive. They’re not giving up. They’re going to rebuild. And we need a grocery store here.”
The nearest Walmart is about 17 miles away – not accessible during the storm.
With help from multiple agencies, as far south as San Diego and as far north as Santa Barbara, the county has cleared most county and state roads.
But some in remote parts of the mountains, like Renfros, live on private roads that the county is not responsible for plowing. If they aren’t plowed on, power companies won’t have access to them. Their neighbors were out of power for nine days.
“The roads below us were a web of darkness,” she said. “There was no way out, and they had no power, so it was cold and dark and there was no communication.”
Piage Renfro’s backyard porch collapses from the snowstorm in Crestline, California, on February 3. 24, 2023. (Fox News/Ashley Soriano)
She compares it to the Titanic.
“After the rowboats came out, they waited for the ship to sink, and then they came in to try and save people. They looked around and said, ‘We’ve waited too long,'” Renfro said. I think 13 people died here.
Officials should step in regardless of their roads, she says, even though it’s paved, and she and her husband paid for it out of neighborhood pockets.
“I’m not into the boycott by any means. I think they followed their protocol,” Renfro said. “Paving the way to safety is critical. That should actually trump the protocols that a county or anyone else applies during a disaster. That should actually be the key thing. And I’m sure it was, but I think a few None of us felt that way.”
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She says she would like to see an amendment to change the approach of who is responsible for plowing private roads during a natural disaster.
“They have to generate people to come and get access to all roads, private, state and county roads,” Renfro said. “If another disaster happens, I don’t want 13 people to die because of it.”
The fire department says it approached the blizzard in a similar way to a wildfire that has used up all available resources.
They created a prescription delivery program in response to this year’s snowfall. All local pharmacies were involved, and the fire department helped facilitate deliveries to those trapped. The distribution of food and firewood was also organized.
The remaining snow from a rare Southern California blizzard is as tall as a “No Exit” street sign, after three weeks. (Fox News/Ashley Soriano)
“The county has all the equipment and personnel at its disposal dedicated and committed to this incident,” said Sherwin of the Fire Department.
Schools reopened, and life was nearly normal in the village of Lake Arrowhead, a major shopping and dining center, Thursday — the 20th day after Feb. 3. 24 Blizzard.
But the snowfall continues for Renfrew, who are still clearing their ways with a snowcat they’ve had to mend several times.
“Everyone is equal on this mountain,” Renfrew said. “There is life on every road, whether it counts as a county or not.” “
The next steps are insurance claims and damage assessment.
“We look at these communities that live under constant threat from wildfires and are priming large premiums for fire insurance,” said Sherwin of the Fire Department. “And then a winter storm comes and takes people’s homes. And that was a hard pill to swallow.”
