DULZURA, Calif. (KGTV) - Some Border 32 Fire victims spent Thursday frantically working throughout the day, ahead of the rains.
Becky Gaskins spent the day piling sandbags and clearing debris at the home she's lived in since 1967.
“Been thinking of all scenarios of what might happen. I’m trying to do everything I can do to get prepared,” said Gaskins.
Gaskins is still coming to grips with the destruction that visited her property along Barrett Smith Road two Wednesdays ago, when the Border 32 Fire swept through, claiming two barns, dozens of chickens, three vehicles and a travel trailer.
“In shock. In shock,” said Gaskins.
Gaskins says she's had to set that shock aside ahead of the looming rains, and memories of the 2007 Harris Fire, which destroyed neighbors' homes and burned right up to her family’s property.
The first rains afterward were nerve-wracking.
“Hills were all burned, just like they are now. When it rained, everything spilled off the hills, ran down off hills … came down to where the culverts are,” said Gaskins.
The culvert got clogged with branches and debris, causing the water to spill over onto the driveway, getting very close to the home.
15 years later, the burn scars are now all across the property, which she fears will make her house more vulnerable to flash floods.
“Really overwhelmed and a little nervous,” said Gaskins. “Expecting it to come through pretty swift and pretty fast.”
When it does, a wall of sandbags will be there to greet the rain.
When asked how she would be sleeping during the night, Gaskins responded, “with one eye open.”
A Gofundme campaignhas been set up to help the Gaskins family rebuild.
