LDS join relief efforts during Oakland blaze
E-mail story
It's easy. Send a link to the story you were just reading to a friend. Just fill out the form on this page and we'll send it along.
Your name and e-mail address are transmitted to the recipient. Otherwise, it is considered private information; see Privacy policy.
The homes of two LDS families were among the hundreds destroyed by a wildfire that engulfed whole blocks of homes in Oakland Oct. 20-22, causing up to $5 billion in damage.
The blaze reduced to ashes some 1,900 acres of expensive homes flanking the Warren Freeway that runs along the mountain ridge overlooking Oakland and the San Francisco Bay area. Officials estimated Oct. 21 that the fire destroyed at least 1,800 homes, seriously damaged another 130, and ruined more than 440 apartment units.Among the homes destroyed were those of Marvin and Elizabeth Moss and Ronald and Deena McClain of the Oakland 1st Ward. Two students attending the University of California at Berkeley, members of the University Ward, Sally Mayer and Holly Glenn, lost all their belongings when their rented, off-campus apartments were destroyed.
Sally Mayer was at Sunday School when the fire approached.
Afterward, she went to the home of her home teacher and was watching news reports of the fire on television when the cameras showed her apartment house in flames.
"I sort of just sat there," she said. "I am so grateful I went to Sunday School. Getting out of the [430-unit apartmentT complex was horrible. My roommate said she saw at least six car accidents as people ran into each other as they tried to leave."
At the fire's peak, thousands of families were evacuated including about 20 LDS families. The fire approached the boundaries of the Miraga Ward, and leaders were waiting to learn if another LDS home in that area had been damaged or destroyed.
No members were known to be among the 19 people who died in the blaze, nor were any members injured. Fifty people were still missing as of Oct. 23. The Oakland Temple was not affected. (See story on this page.)
