Sycamore Canyon Residents Fight Through the Night
Michael and Willie Ovieda on Why They Stayed Behind
Michael Ovieda, 59, didn’t leave the Sycamore Canyon Road house he was born and raised in during the Sycamore or Coyote Fires, and he wasn’t about to leave for this one.
Ovieda, who lives with his son Willie at 1416 Sycamore Canyon Road – a home that sports a “Firefighters Rock!” sign just a stone’s throw from the closed-off Five-Points Roundabout – stuck around through Thursday night despite the flames threatening his property and notice of a mandatory evacuation.
The fire stayed away, at least for last night. “It turned to smoke and we went to bed at 3:30 in the morning,” Ovieda said.
Ovieda and his son, along with his brother and nephew who live in the house next door, macheted down the grass near their home and soaked it in water. “We’re going to stay here until it burns down,” 18-year-old Willie said. The guys had friends coming by to help remove their valuable items from the home. “We don’t even know where half our stuff is,” Willie said.
