With tens of thousands of fire evacuees looking for a place to stay during a pandemic, where is everyone going?
August 27, 2020 (Marielle Argueza )
Hidden Valley Music Seminars had opened its doors just hours before the warning was issued to serve evacuees from the Cachagua area.
The music venue has dormitories that make for easy spacing during Covid-19. "Normally around this time we would have musicians from all over the world stay here for our master classes," Founder Peter Meckel says. "They've just been sitting there empty."
By 7pm, the dormitories were still mostly empty. While smoke wove through the oaks on Hidden Valley's property, an eerie silence took over by sundown, disrupted by the occasional laughter of children. About a dozen families came by in the afternoon, but by evening, just four remained.
"Things are changing fast," Meckel said. "People are making their own plans. I know there's one family going to stay with a friend in Carmel Highlands and some people just heading out of the county all together." Meckel himself had packed a couple of shirts and boxes of belongings in his car, ready to leave.