{"id":204774,"date":"2026-09-06T16:33:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T23:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=204774"},"modified":"2026-09-06T16:33:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T23:33:40","slug":"looking-back-at-the-darby-fire-25-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=204774","title":{"rendered":"Looking Back at The Darby Fire 25 Years Ago"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Murphys, CA&#8230;To mark the 25th anniversary of the Darby Fire, CCWD External Affairs Manager Kelly Gerkensmeyer shares his personal memories of the event and the dedicated water professionals who helped keep critical services operating during a time our community would never forget.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/video.php?height=476&#038;href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Freel%2F28879997364940971%2F&#038;show_text=false&#038;width=267&#038;t=0\" width=\"267\" height=\"476\" style=\"border:none;overflow:hidden\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowFullScreen=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Looking back, my memories of that week almost play in reverse.<\/p>\n<p>Most people can remember exactly where they were on the morning of September 11, 2001. For me, those memories are forever intertwined with the Darby Fire.<\/p>\n<p>My first memory of that day was standing beside a CCWD truck after days of long shifts and little sleep, listening to the news unfold on the radio with my coworkers as we tried to understand what was happening in our country while dealing with a major emergency here at home.<\/p>\n<p>Just days earlier, on September 5, 2001, the Darby Fire ignited. Communities were threatened, critical water infrastructure was damaged and pushed to its limits, and crews worked around the clock to keep water flowing.<br \/>\nWhat stands out most 25 years later isn&#8217;t the equipment, the repairs, or the long hours.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s the people!!!<br \/>\nDuring those difficult days, water professionals from CCWD, Union Public Utility District, the City of Angels, and Utica Water &#038; Power came together with a shared purpose: helping our communities through a crisis. While firefighters battled the flames, crews worked behind the scenes to protect water supplies, maintain service, and deliver emergency water to neighboring communities after critical infrastructure was destroyed.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, I reread reports written during those days. Two statements stayed with me:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We work for the customer 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It hasn&#8217;t been easy, but it&#8217;s been successful, thanks to the efforts of District staff.&#8221;<br \/>\nTwenty-five years later, those words still ring true.<\/p>\n<p>The Darby Fire taught me lessons about service, teamwork, and commitment that have stayed with me throughout my 25+ years at CCWD. More than anything, it taught me that behind every water system are dedicated people willing to do whatever it takes to serve their community.<\/p>\n<p>If you lived through the Darby Fire, I&#8217;d love to hear your memories in the comments. And if you know a firefighter, utility worker, or water professional who was there, ask them to tell their story.<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ll quickly discover that Calaveras County was carried through that crisis by ordinary people doing extraordinary things for their neighbors.<\/p>\n<p>Twenty-five years later, I still remember the faces, the teamwork, and the determination of the people who showed up when their community needed them most.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Murphys, CA&#8230;To mark the 25th anniversary of the Darby Fire, CCWD External Affairs Manager Kelly Gerkensmeyer shares his personal memories of the event and the dedicated water professionals who helped keep critical services operating during a time our community would never forget. Looking back, my memories of that week almost play in reverse. Most people [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":204777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,4,1,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-204774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-life-style","category-news","category-traffic-fire","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/01-CloudsofSmoke-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=204774"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":204775,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204774\/revisions\/204775"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/204777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=204774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=204774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=204774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}