Pinyon Pines residents ride out Rosa Fire without power or water
Garrett Hottle
PINYON PINES, Calif. (KESQ) While much of the firefighting focus remains on the Rosa Fire’s containment progress and Highway 74’s extended closure, some of the most revealing moments are unfolding quietly inside the evacuation zone where a handful of neighbors never left.
News Channel 3’s Garrett Hottle spoke with two residents who chose to stay behind as flames crept dangerously close to their mountaintop home.
Mario Salazar and Alana Maudsley live in Pinyon Pines, at the edge of the ridge where the fire first broke out. Their property now overlooks blackened hillsides and pink streaks of flame retardant. Despite the evacuation order, they decided not to leave.
“He got the ping. He said he was on his way,” Maudsley explained. “And when I knew that, I went out and started wetting down the back just in case there were any embers… not even 30 minutes into watering, the power went out. And I’m like, oh man.”
With no electricity or running water, the couple is surviving on generators, They’re using gasoline sparingly balancing between survival and preparation.
“I figured with the light wind that we had, it was probably going to spread before they really got a handle on it,” Salazar said. “I really didn’t think we were in any danger.”
The view from their porch offers a sobering sight charred ridgelines and the fading echo of a fast-moving fire. But through it all, they say they were calm, calculated, and prepared.
“We weren’t worried one bit,” Salazar said. “We took in the totality of the circumstances the fire units assigned to the area, the weather, lack of strong winds, and our own preparedness.”
While others were unable to return due to closed roads, Salazar has taken on the added responsibility of caring for neighbors’ animals.
“So I’ve been going around, watering and feeding the chickens and watering a mule across the street.”
He estimates about half of the residents in Pinyon Pines stayed behind and like them, weren’t alarmed.
The Rosa Fire is still active, but with containment increasing, officials expect Highway 74 to remain closed through Saturday. Meanwhile, for those still living without power or access, life continues not in panic, but in purpose.