Site sought for Cedar fire memorial

By Michele Clock, staff writer

2:00 a.m. January 3, 2009

LAKESIDE — The donations began pouring in almost immediately after the Cedar fire roared through Lakeside's dry hills in October 2003. Everyone liked the idea of a memorial honoring those who were killed, including 12 Lakeside residents.

Five years later, a memorial is not yet in place.

Lakeside Historical Society volunteers spent more than $2,000 to design and build a pair of 2-by-3-foot panels that illustrate the fire's path and pay tribute to firefighters and those who died. But the panels sit at the nonprofit's headquarters, mired by what volunteers describe as a lengthy, emotionally wrenching process of researching and designing the panels, confusion over where they could go and a policy barring them from county parks.

For years the society's plan was to place one of the memorials at Lakeside's centerpiece park, Lindo Lake Park. But the county's Department of Parks and Recreation instituted a policy that allows only flagpoles, benches and drinking fountains to be donated as memorials.

Some society members and residents say they are disappointed.

“It's a shame and it's horrible,” said Arnold Cutler, who works as a dentist in Lakeside and donated money for the memorial. “It certainly isn't going to hurt anybody and will give some solace to people . . . and hopefully prevent further tragedies from happening.”

The society plans to place the other memorial at the society's headquarters in the coming months.

The Cedar fire devastated Lakeside, burning about 300 homes in the area. Residents recall surreal scenes of embers falling from black skies, sirens blaring and emergency evacuations.

“It was mass panic,” Cutler said.

The county's Department of Parks and Recreation gets only a few requests each year for memorials, said Renee Hilton, assistant director of the department. The current policy became official in 2005, although some parks already had their own memorial policies, Hilton said.

Early in the planning process, society volunteers sought a park location because a policy did not yet exist, said Richard White, a past historical society president who led a memorial committee.

“They said they needed to come up with a policy before they could tell us yes or no,” White said. “If they would have said no right up front, that would have been that. But they didn't.”

Society volunteers thought they would have a better chance of approval by including information on the dangers of fires going back to the early 20th century – especially once they learned of the policy. They also thought a more informative approach would help educate the public.

The panels, finished this year, include a graphic of the Cedar fire's path, as well as a somber recognition of those who died, and sharp words for the hunter who pleaded guilty to starting it.

In the background are drawings sketched by local students, and in one corner are photos of 14 of the fire's 15 victims, 12 of them from Lakeside.

The work was emotionally challenging, said Gordon Shackelford, a historical society volunteer who researched archives for the project. Discussions about what kind of memorial to build were difficult, he said.

“Those are not such easy decisions, particularly where you have had such a loss of life,” Shackelford said. “This was the biggest disaster Lakeside had ever seen . . . These are not easy things to get through, to get settled on. Not at all.”

Randy Ford, a county district park manager, said he was sensitive to the community's loss but the department had to enforce its policy. He said county parks are “geared toward a more positive recreational experience.”

County Supervisor Dianne Jacob said she thought that the historical society's concept was good, but that there may be better places for the memorials.

“Our parks are active parks, places for people to enjoy,” Jacob said. There are “parks that are specifically memorial parks, and that's a different park, with a different purpose.”

Other county parks departments in the state have similar memorial policies.

In Orange County, the parks department lacks a written policy on memorials, but a spokeswoman said they are limited for a similar reason – an overabundance of memorials could detract from the theme or purpose of the park.

In Northern California's Santa Clara County, the Parks and Recreation Department has a policy allowing plaques and monuments under certain circumstances. Officials said they have worked with residents to come up with plans that work for both sides, such as a picnic area in honor of an 18-year-old killed after he fell down a park ravine about five years ago.

Shackelford said the historical society will look for another location to replace Lindo Lake Park.

“Would we have done it any differently? The answer is no,” Shackelford said. “In the end we had to create what we felt is the proper item.”

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Michele Clock: (619) 593-4964; michele.clock@uniontrib.com

Source: SignonSanDiego.com

From the Lakeside Historical Society website:

Statistics

• Started in the afternoon of October 25, 2003 in the Cedar Creek Falls Area.
• This was the worst fire in California history.
• The fire spread at a rate of 3600 acres per hour in the first 36 hours. At one point, it spread 40,000 acres in one hour.
• 113 injuries
• 15 deaths
• 2,232 homes destroyed
• 53 homes damaged
• 22 commercial properties destroyed
• 566 additional structures destroyed
• Estimated cost of fighting the fire: More than $31 million dollars.
• Cause: Authorities believe it started when a lost hunter set a signal fire that continued to spread.
• 280,278 acres
• Containment Date: 03 Nov 2003
• Control date: 05 Dec 2003