'Let it Burn' Policy Smells in Cedar Glen Fire

by Sterling D. Allan
www.sterlingdallan.com
November 23, 2003

CEDAR GLEN, CA

Hugh Campbell is famous in California for flirting with death to save his home in the Cedar Glen fire.  What smells about the situation is why there was a 'let it burn' policy in place -- which Campbell defied.

He drove around a manned road block in order to preserve his home, and the homes of his neighbors on both sides.

When he asked the officer at the roadblock who issued the authorization for the roadblock, asking him if he wasn't concerned about the constitutionality issues, the officer replied, "I don't care about the Constitution."

Campbell drove around the roadblock, cut out the undergrowth around his home, watered down his home and property, and that of his neighbors, built a quick cinderblock enclosure to hide in when the fire came, and then hunkered down.

A wall of flame 100 feet high raced through, but his home stood, as did the houses on either side.  Everything else was a waste land.

In an adjoining area is a posh neighborhood with million dollar homes -- that was spared from the fire, with help from the fire fighters.

The word that Campbell overheard was that in his part of the forest there was "nothing but meth labs anyway, so just let it burn."

There were no fire suppression efforts whatsoever.  They just blockaded the road and were going to let the whole thing go up in smoke.

Curiously, just days after the fire, Campbell received an offer to buy his home and property.

He intends to get to the bottom of this.