News, nature, and community throughout the Emerald Triangle

The Bell Fire seen from overhead. [Photo from Cal Fire]Casey O’Neill is a cannabis and food farmer in Mendocino County who has been writing newsletters about his efforts to provide sustainable produce and marijuana. We feature his column once a week.

The Bell Fire seen from overhead. [Photo from Cal Fire]

Yesterday, Casey sent this column about the Bell Fire which threatened to overwhelm his homestead east of Leggett.

Fire. It’s an ever-present reality during summers in Northern California, but you never really think it’s gonna happen to you…until it does. Today was a mellow Sunday, futzputtering around the garden, getting ready to plant winter squash in the evening. After 4 o’clock, thinking about a cider. Phone call comes in “there’s a fire below Blue Rock.” I see the smoke column rising and realize that this is the real thing.

My heart starts pounding and I have to work hard to control myself. I gather my fire gear and change into my boots and Nomecs. I head north to the scene, a mere two parcels from my home and farm. The fire is raging, wind blowing from the south towards the ranch with the hundred year-old barn that we cherish.

I meet Echo, he has the quick attack fire engine and I park my truck off the road and jump in with him. We hit the fire at the head, spraying water on the burning grass and moving down the line. My brother Lito joins me and we add additional lengths of hose, putting out fire as we work our way along. Echo remains with the engine tending the pump and serving as a lookout.

The fire spots and flames leap around our hose, burning through the canvas as the water from the engine runs out. We switch to hand tools, looking around to reassess and regroup. I am breathing hard from the exertion and smoke, trying to fight down the panic. My mind shouts that these are our homes, our livelihoods, but I push it down.

The wind shifts and the fire changes direction; it is burning towards my neighbor’s, with my home and farm just beyond his parcel. We gather ourselves for the next attack. My uncle arrives with the Ford flatbed with a pump and 275 gallon tank on the back. The water saves my neighbor’s home and motorhome as we cut line around it and knock back the flames.

As we get a secure perimeter around the home, I realize that the wind is pushing the fire hard towards our family compound and my uncle and I jump into my truck. I race back to my place where I find the flames licking the end of my veggie tunnels and threatening the sheep pasture and pig barn.

As I come down the driveway I am filled with a deep foreboding; a voice whispers deep in my head, “It’s all gonna burn.” I push the panic away and stop the truck, jumping out and shouting to my uncle to take the vehicle down to his house. I race to the back of the greenhouse and turn on the sprinklers and the hose and I spray out the burning grass and plastic.

I look towards my house and see the flames reaching towards the driveway that separates my life from the fire. A neighbor arrives at the same time and he is calm and ready, which brings my racing emotions back under control. We get a hose run from the garden and he starts to spray water while I run to get the fire pump and hook it into the system. I now have 11,000 gallons at the ready and I start the pump. The fire sprinklers come on around my house, wetting the garden and me and the neighbor hook in the fire hoses and start to push the flames back.

I sprint back to the upper pasture, past the hoophouse that has begun to catch fire again. The sheep are milling and bleating in fear and Calfire is arriving and opening their enclosure to give them an escape route. The fire is burning the pasture, and my hose that I water the sheep with is starting to melt. I grab it up and spray the flames, stopping the hose from melting and knocking the front down. I run down to the hoophouse again and spray it out for the second time, then I run back down to see how Pops’ place is faring.

Brother Lito and I run a hose lay out to fight the oncoming flames, moving across steep and rugged terrain as best we can and putting down a good wet line. We coordinate with brother Ben, as he is helping oversee the attack. Resources are arriving; I see the tide turning, and a deep emotion of pride and gratitude overwhelms me. Our preparedness, our hours of training, our practice is winning the battle. I have kept my head and we are fighting the fire. The Calfire chopper starts dropping bucket loads and we are gleefully soaked by falling water.

The fire came right to us. But for grace and luck, our farm, our livelihood, our lives would have burned. I feel all the feels, but we are OK and stronger for the effort. I am deeply grateful to Calfire for arriving with the cavalry to save the day as my strength and energy faded with the pounding adrenaline, smoke inhalation and heat. I’m grateful for all the friends and neighbors who arrived to help, and for our volunteer fire department and the shared trainings and efforts at preparedness we’ve all made. We couldn’t have done it alone, but we also wouldn’t still be standing had we been unprepared to fight. As always, much love and great success to you on your journey!

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Congratulations on saving your place and your neighbors. Preparation is always the key. Good luck and maintain confidence that you can deal with whatever arises and know that you and your family are an inspiration to others.

“Wouldn’t still be standing had we been unprepared to fight” Glad you survived. I experienced a similar exhaustive thrill as I tried to save my home and property 2 years ago..

Glad everyone is safe. Couldn’t get myself to actually read this article thoroughly as these articles with this guy are much overly dramatic detailed writing it makes my head spin. He left out the overly detail of how the fire started today on his property or “neighbors”Pot farm fire. Use the fancy talk to to tell us how it started .

Well I was hoping for a week with no negativity. Thanks Jim!!

Blame the person who started the fire

10 to 1 it was a foreigner.

They are idiots when it comes to smoking, and fire…

I watched as someone’s “guest” snuffed out a cigarette, and directed the crumbled cherry and ashes through a gap between the wooden boards of a guys porch, in the middle os summer…

I’m not sure what flowed faster and harder, the hose, or the scolding…

Both came fast and furious…

Blame the person who started the fire for your negative attitude sure Jim I will get right on that

On another note Casey is living the dream and seems like a great person. Good work being brave and fighting the fire and having a plan. Your doing things right out there.

Generally, it takes an investigation by Cal Fire before information about how a fire started is posted.

It happened on his property or next door I think he probably knows

Maybe he doesn’t care but everyone knows where his farm is now. I wouldn’t do what he is doing, I feel like he is exposing himself too much now but hey it’s his decision.

It’s not hard at all to find out who owns what farm.

I totally disagree with your negative assessment of Mr. O’Neill’s fine article. Man, I could hear his heart beating.

Man I used to fight fires if he has to fight down panic perhaps firefighting is not for him. So lessons learned here. Have a green zone or other fire line around your house. Next time have an escape route when fighting a fire that is wildland firefighting 101. Don’t get me wrong you did well knocking down a fire but this story makes you sound more dramatic than a teenage girl.

“I used to fight fires…” You sound like…so calm. Too bad.

Yea well panic in emergencies like firefighting gets people injured or killed. Seen it happen. You have to keep a cool head and be able to think under pressure. Not saying the adrenalin isn’t pumping but panic is the wrong answer.

Seems like Casey thought pretty well under pressure. He is not a professional firefighter.

Wow. I’m always giving Casey a hard time here over his weed stuff BUT…I will only congratulate Casey- and anybody else- for being prepared and jumping into action to fight a fire. We are all really #same team on THIS issue. Good going, Casey and friends and neighbors! You use all the words you want to describe this one, bro….

Yikes. Maybe being “more dramatic than a teenage girl” is better than just finding a reason to belittle someone who’s relating the conflict between trained preparedness and how it feels when the immediate danger is to his own home and community.I also used to fight fire, and I think he did a great job of describing the tumult that any landowner who has invested himself fully in home and community would feel. I applaud Casey for maintaining his efforts and his calm while keeping the fire off his home, his animals, and his neighbors.

Oh please. You probably never got near a fire. What a joke 🙄

Yeah, he writes like a butthurt phony who never really helped anybody or did anything worthwhile but has to tear people down. People hate Casey because he grows outstanding herb and vegetables and and works hard at it and gets to live in a great place, the fabled and proverbial Calif. Central Coast Hog Heaven. And I don’t mean motorcycles.

What a nasty, hateful comment. If you fought fires professionally, good for you, but Casey does not, but he trained as a volunteer for himself and his neighbors. And you have the nerve to say: “don’t get me wrong . . . .more dramatic than a teenage girl.” Courage and bravery consist of being afraid, but going ahead anyway. I DO get you wrong. Shame on you.

Jeez give the guy a break his home and his whole scene just about burnt up. Of course he’s going to be panicked but he held it together and everything turned out in his favor and his neighbors. I’m glad you guys are OK out there. Sounds like you have a tight community.

Been there, done that, and this story brings it all back! Thanks Casey, for the reporting and your prose. I join the chorus’ big sigh of relief at how all y’all were able to squelch this threat.

It’s sad that some people are so jaded they can only offer disparaging remarks to people who’ve just gone through a trauma. What’s that about?

I think it’s a jealous/ego thing. “I want the attention on me, why is he special” A well respected member of our community has a traumatic event and is able to write in great detail his first hand account. The immediate response is to downplay the event and say some dumb s*#%….. Take this article as a learning experience and use it to quell you own anxiety as you prepare to defend all that you hold dear. Or don’t write anything cause it’s obviously not a big deal to you and you can go kick rocks.

Maybe Legget is ready to crash the Mattole Wildland Firefighter’s Challenge on July 30th at the Grange!

Casey, try switching to NOMEX…it works much better than “nomecks”. Nomecks is for rednecks. George

The Boy Scout Motto: Be Prepared.

Having lived through two fire evacuations, with the blaze coming right up to the property line, I came to the realization that homesteading way out in the drying forests is no longer the good idea it once seemed to be. The general trend is fairly clear and unfavorable, but with all the time & energy previously invested, it’s very hard to let go.

Thanks for your hard work Casey, and thanks for the awesome article. A lot of negative Nancy’s on here.

Nice going Casey. You have my utmost respect.

Ignore the Negative Nancy’s.

🤔🧐I’d insult them,”(Y)’s”, right now, but I’m already on very thin ice.😁

You Kicked Ass. No doubt in my mind.

I really liked your write up. A lot.

Thank you for being prepared, and for having the courage and stamina to do what you did. Very inspiring.

I appreciate what you did, and what it took to prepare for it…

(I watched the fires initial build from my dining room window, with a feeling of dread)…

Now, I must say, as far as running towards fire…, and I hope Kym will allow me some leeway here, but although it may sound like it, it is in no way an insult…

“Some people might consider it a damn fool thing to do, crazy even…

But,🤔 as long as it’s done safely, with safety in mind, 🤔, it’s just the kind of DF,C thing that I have a great deal of respect for…😉👍💯.

STAY SAFE, Casey. And thanks again!

I can’t wait for an opportunity to buy some of your produce.

OMG! I’m glad it wasn’t worse!

Good article…good job fighting the fire! Thx

Great job Casey Panic ? By god sometimes working in a panic is exactly what one should do. With everything you hold dear about to burn up

No matter the size of the fire it’s important to remember that all you need to protect is the 1/4 acre that holds the house.

Don’t get overwhelmed by the total amount of acres #s already consumed by the fire.

If 100′ around your house is cleared, than your space can be defended, and likely easier than what you would have thought it to be.

Remember, your just going to fight for a 1/4 acre or so.

Wow, what a story! Kudos and congrats 🔥

Bravo Casey, Well done! So glad all turned out well. Thanks for sharing your well written and detailed experience.

Great job Casey. We are so happy this had a happy ending. Preparation is the key and you had it.

Way to go Casey, we both know that preparedness is everything! Thats the forth fire in the last two years within a mile of me! Hell yeah I’m scared.

Ben and Lito are both experienced fire fighters with a background with Cal Fire. I’ve always appreciated their abilities. I’m sure they were a big part of the successful operation. Always cool and calm on assignment. I wished they would have stayed on.

A retired fire fighter guy.

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