Calm shattered: Southern California Highland fire destroys retirees’ home
George Boyles and his wife, Lucila, were living the bucolic life at the top of a hill and the end of a road in rural Aguanga.
Their 24 chickens provided them a dozen eggs a day and their seven dogs and four cats kept them company. Nobody drove past their home in noisy cars.
The couple had both recently retired. George, 69, worked in robotics and automation maintenance, and Lucila, 71, provided in-home care. George liked to toil with his welding tools in his garage while Lucila would spend months knitting a quilt.
“It was easy, calm, no hustle and bustle,” George Boyles said.
And then came the winds and the fire. And the hustle.
On Monday, Oct. 30, the flames from the Highland fire that once seemed a safe distance away were pushed by gusty Santa Ana winds that seemingly changed direction on a whim. The fire roared through the Boyles’ 10 acres, destroying their home and garage — and with it, George’s tools and Lucila’s quilts.
After living in the home for 15 years, the couple are now titleholders to smoldering ruins.
“We just paid it off in April,” George Boyles said by phone from Anza, where he and his wife were staying with relatives.
Their home was one of nine structures that Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department said were damaged or destroyed. Cal Fire had not determined Tuesday how many of those were houses.
The first sign of trouble came around 1 p.m. when a neighbor called about seeing smoke. George Boyles climbed the ridge next to his home and saw the smoke across the valley.
“It seemed far enough away, we’re thinking 4 miles,” Boyles said. “We kept an eye on it and little by little, as the wind starts changing, it was blowing it up and pretty soon we saw darker smoke and then we saw flames coming over the ridges.”
But the flames were moving away from their home, toward the intersection of highways 79 and 371 “and downtown Aguanga, which is only three buildings,” Boyles said.
And even when the wind changed again, pushing the flames toward their home, George saw the helicopter water drops and thought the fire was almost out.
“And then winds picked up. I said ‘Ulp, we need to start packing up,’ ” Boyles said.
They grabbed clothes and paperwork, loaded the dogs and let the cats and chickens out.
By then, the flames had crested the hill near the house. The cardboard that had been stacked on plastic trash cans next to the house caught fire. Boyles tried to put out the fire with a garden hose, but what he described as toxic smoke from melting trash cans drove him back.
The garage went up first, the flames partially fed by oxygen tanks he uses in his welding.
The couple had planned to drive out, but the flames on both sides of the road made that trip inadvisable. They had thought ahead, however, and created an area on their property that contained only dirt that allowed them to ride out the firestorm without injury.
“When you live out here, you have to think ahead and have something just in case,” Boyles said. “And that’s why I had a safe area.”
After about 20 minutes, Boyles walked up the road and met with a firefighter. The flames had come and gone, so the Broyleses could now safely leave.
The couple would like to rebuild on the property, but it’s too soon to say whether that will be possible, he said.
“It’s a nice place, country life. Out of our front window, we can see Wildomar. It’s a nice view,” Boyles said. “We’ll figure it out from here.”