I want to publicly thank my friend, Liz Ellis, for her selfless courage in warning the residents of Corral Canyon and Latigo Canyon of the fire early Saturday morning. Just back from three weeks in Africa on a Habitat for Humanity project, she could not sleep and rose to make a cup of tea. A little after 3 a.m., she went to her kitchen and saw a wall of flames racing toward her out the window. She called 911. She had lived in Latigo Canyon for several years and her next call was to me to activate our emergency phone list. Being new to the Corral Canyon neighborhood, Liz didn’t know her neighbors and didn’t know if there was any kind of emergency list. She did what she could do.
She dressed and grabbed her cat, got into her car and drove up and down the streets of her new neighborhood honking her horn and yelling “fire” as loud as she could until she saw that lights were being turned on and people were awake. She evacuated with nothing. People were more important than things. What she said she learned: It is difficult to drive a car with a cat on your foot, so don’t try it.
I am happy to report that Liz’s home was one of those spared though many of her neighbors suffered the loss of everything. No, not everything! Everyone got out and no residents were harmed thanks, in no small part, to Liz Ellis.
Jackie Peterson