Third Pier Fire community meeting will take place Saturday night

TULARE COUNTY (KFSN) -- A couple of people from Hope Elementary School stopped by Porterville College's student center on Friday.

They donated water bottles to the Red Cross, which set up an evacuation center there to help those affected by the Pier Fire. But they aren't serving many people anymore, so the center will close Friday night.

The Pier Fire has burned about 25,000 acres since it started last Tuesday, and containment continues to increase. Fire officials say the weather has been favorable for firefighters.

"The temperatures have cooled down, we're no longer in the hundreds," said U.S. Forest Service Fire Information Officer Denise Alonzo. "And the humidity has come up and it's cooler at night, so it really was good for us to have that because we needed that in order to do those firing out operations. And if not, we may not have been able to accomplish those as safely as we have been."

No homes have burned, but evacuation orders are still in place for many Tulare County mountain communities, including Alpine Village, Camp Nelson, and Pierpoint Springs. Ted Lindstrom lives on Upper Rio Vista Road in Springville.

The street reopened to residents on Wednesday night, when officials downgraded a mandatory evacuation order. But Ted and his two dogs never left, even after a deputy knocked on his door a week ago.

"He says you have to leave," Lindstrom said. "And I said, 'I don't want to leave.'"

His power went out sporadically and he didn't have well water.

"I had the garden hose ready to wash the roof off and keep the embers down," Lindstrom said. "And the fire up the hill, in the evening, the wind comes back this way, and I had burnt embers in my yard, so that's the scary part."

Those affected by the Pier Fire have packed the two community meetings held so far. Another is planned for Saturday night at 6 p.m. at Porterville College's student center.