Lower Lake students return to school after Lake County’s Clayton fire

LOWER LAKE

The first day of school here for hundreds of elementary and high school students was a welcome return to daily routine for a town that just days ago saw parts of Main Street and more than a quarter of its homes destroyed by fire.

Firefighters - including some who helped battle the devastating Clayton fire as it roared through town Aug. 14 - were outside the two campuses on Lake Street to greet the incoming students Tuesday morning. They lined the elementary school’s sidewalk, handing out red fire hats, bookmarks, wrist bands and other paraphernalia.

Lower Lake High School senior Jolean Scarborough and her cousin, Mikelynn Rowe, a sophomore, lost their family’s shared home in the Clayton fire.

Scarborough, 17, has been staying with friends and other family ever since.

“I think normalcy is good,” she said. Both girls were happy to see the scores of firefighters and police who greeted students on their first day back.

“It was nice to see them waving” instead of spraying down fires, said Rowe, 15.

The Clayton fire destroyed nearly 200 homes and 300 buildings in all, including the transitional kindergarten building across the street from the elementary and high school campuses.

It also burned down the high school sports shed, which held an estimated $40,000 worth of soccer, softball and football gear, said high school Principal Jessica Taliaferro.

It forced officials to postpone the start of classes for the second year in a row in the Konocti Unified School District, which includes Lower Lake. The district’s other schools started Monday.

Last year, the Rocky fire delayed the start of the school year, then classes were canceled for a week after the Valley fire broke out Sept. 12.

District officials did not have an estimate Tuesday for how many families with children attending the two schools were displaced by the Clayton fire. The district serves about 3,200 students, almost half of which attend schools in Lower Lake, said Superintendent Donna Becnel.

Most students were back at school Tuesday, including 24 transitional kindergarten students who had attended classes in the building that burned to the ground. They have been relocated to other classrooms, Becnel said.

Eight district employees lost their homes to the Clayton fire, she said.

On Tuesday, many of the district’s staff and teachers wore T-shirts emblazoned with a buoyant message. “This school has awesome students” read the front. On the back were hashtags: “#strength, #unity, #resilience, #LowerLake.”

Parent Melissa Campbell said the Clayton fire marked the fourth time her family has evacuated in the face of wildfire within the past year.

The trio of blazes that hit southern Lake County last summer - the Rocky, Jerusalem and Valley fires - solidified emergency plans for the family, including 5-year-old twins and a 6-year-old, all students at the elementary school.

When they saw smoke in the skies outside Clearlake two weeks ago, they went to their rooms and began packing, Campbell said.

“It’s been rough,” she said. “They’re actually really scared whenever they hear sirens. They think we’re going to evacuate.”

Students returning to campus betrayed few fears, appearing cheerful and happy on the whole. Still, school officials know anxiety can lurk below the surface and sought to assuage any concerns.

In addition to the greetings and gifts, officials at the elementary school encouraged children to ask questions about the fire during a first-day assembly. Firefighters and law enforcement officers quizzed them and offered answers.

“When you see fire, what number do you call?” asked Willie Sapeta, chief of the Lake County Fire Protection District.

“911!” the children shouted.

Later, he offered reassurance. “We are here to protect you,” he said.

School counselors were available, and teachers were keeping an eye on students for signs of stress, said Lower Lake Elementary School Principal Tarin Benson.

Her home survived, but her family’s property, including five houses, four barns and several tractors and other farm equipment, burned.

One of the family’s nine horses also died in the blaze. A second horse is being treated at UC Davis Veterinary Hospital for burns.

Benson said she lost all her photos and some family heirlooms.

Authorities said the Clayton fire was ignited by Damin Pashilk, a 40-year-old Clearlake man they suspect set up to 12 fires over the past year in Lake County.

He was charged last week with 15 felony counts of arson and has yet to enter a plea.

The toll on the town was apparent in many of the stories students shared Tuesday.

Lower Lake fifth-grader Sean Cancilla, 9, said his family returned to their home to find it survived the fire. The house next door was gone.

Cancilla’s stepfather, Rupert Pledger, said he hoped the return to classes would take kids’ minds off the county’s extended bout with wildfire.

Cancilla was smiling Tuesday but described the Clayton fire with a single word - “scary.”

“I didn’t think it would get this far,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 707-462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MendoReporter.