POLLOCK PINES, Calif. — Some residents of Pollock Pines are now allowed to return to their homes after part of the town was recently downgraded to an evacuation warning.
Josh Steward was one of the first back in his neighborhood on Thursday, and he welcomed his neighbors back the best way he knows how, by playing the national anthem full blast on his electric guitar.
Steward had been living at a hotel with his family during the evacuation, but was happy to return home.
“We went up to the pool. We got the call from the El Dorado County Sheriff. And I walk into the pool and I play the message on speaker phone, and everybody and the pool was like, ‘Woohoo, get to go home!’” he said.
Mary Proto also returned Thursday and spent some time in the morning waiting for the Safeway on Pony Express Trail to open.
“The whole thing has been learning about patience. There’s nothing you can do about it so you might as well just relax and don’t get upset about it,” Proto said.
She is just happy to be back.
“It’s a relief. It’s been tough, you know, living out of a suitcase. I mean, that was absolutely no fun at all, worried about are we even going to have a home to come back to,” she said.
Still, she’s not celebrating yet.
“I’m feeling I’m going to keep some things packed. I’m not going to put everything back together again... just in case, cause you don’t know,” Proto said.
John and Cindy Kellog admit that they weren’t prepared.
“When we were told you evacuate, we thought, you know, a day or two. They just need room to run the fire equipment through and we’ll be home. And it just went on and on and on and we weren’t prepared for it,” John Kellog said.
Now, they’re elated to be home.
“It’s incredible. I’ve been here for 40 years and never missed home so much,” he said.
“Our whole life is here. So I know people say, ‘It’s okay, we just move on.’ But I don’t know what we would have done if we would have lost our home,” Cindy Kellog added.
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