Teacher Recalls Helping Save Students From Boles Fire's Fast Spread
WEED (CBS13) — The fast-moving Boles Fire forced a teacher to quickly act and help usher hundreds of children away from the blaze.
Classes were going on inside a now burned portion of Weed Elementary when the fire closed in. Teacher Bobbie Hill snapped a picture of the flames from the Boles Fire rapidly moving toward staff and students.
"Within 10 mins we were evacuating and literally running for our lives. The heat was immense," she said.
Hall says it only took minutes for the fire to reach the school grounds, gutting some classrooms in the back of the building, forcing hundreds of kids and staff to flee.
""Tying to get all these kids over the hill, we went to the Lomes Field, and it just kept pushing us back, pushing us back. Went to the practice field at the high school, and then eventually we were just backed into a corner with nothing but dry fields behind us," she said.
Hall was amazed that despite the chaos, every student remembered what to do from the emergency drills they practiced.
"Our evacuation drill, it saved us," she said.
She's still in shock that in the middle of the disaster, she remained focused on her job and the safety of her students.
"We watched a video of 9/11 last week and we were watching it and looking at the people running around with ashes all over their face, aimlessly not knowing where to go, and we talked about 'Can you imagine what they were thinking? What was going through their mind at the time?'" she said. "We know now, we do; we lived it."
Students could be back to the school on Tuesday if water and electricity are restored.
