Grant .. Burned out ? We have a place for you.

blimpy

blimpy

New member
A huge fire has engulfed the area where Grant lives, and where his plane and parts are kept.
 
If anybody has phone #... particularly cell phone.. let me have it.. so I can try to get in touch.

Anybody got a picture of grant.. we've never met.. and I may have to drive up to the evac shelter
to look for him.. if I cant make contact.

Larry
 
Blimpy, Don't panic...yet. The fire is south of where Grant lives. Check out the CA fire map at:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=zp8nK_5H0MFQ.kzTmU5XK-qJQ

Grant lives East of Loch Lomond. You can actually find his location on the SF sectional. He lives next to the Loch Lomond abandoned airstrip He was in the process of moving, so I (hope)think it may be premature to say he was all burned out, though not sure about his plane. I have left him a message, and will let you all know if and or when I hear anything.
 
I just talked to Tom Cross, an old friend of Grants. He said that Grant is living at his girlfriends place. He sold his house a week before the fire, but may not have moved all his Bellanca stuff. Sounds like he was driving away as the fire approached the home. More as I find out.
 
Just got off the phone with Grant. He is ok. He moved most of his Bellanca stuff, though some was left at the hangar at his old house. Not sure if it burned. He had moved most of the stuff to his folks old home on Cobb Mt. and so far it is safe, except for some shipping containers that had a lot of Bellanca paperwork/manuals, etc. All things considered he did well, and seemed to be in good spirits. Still not sure of the condition of his plane. He said that approx 10,000 people have been displaced. News said that over 580 homes have been destroyed in that fire alone, not counting the Butte fire SE of Sacramento.
 
To Quote Mark Twain (sort of) Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated! I appreciate the concern, and the good wishes. I was unloading another truck load of Bellanca parts at the old family ranch in Cobb, when I heard copters buzzing rather close. The sky was overcast, so I could not see much, but it slowly changed from grey to brown. I drove back down to the main road (about 1/2 mile) and could see billowing smoke just down the ridge from my place. Raced back up to the ranch and started throwing parts on the ground and then went for the photo albums and firearms. Was madly loading the truck when CALFIRE came roaring up and gave us 10 minutes to bailout. My brother and I and a friend left using a road that went away from the fire and got out quick. When I got to the main road, the fire had already jumped it and was moving up towards the subdivision that it devastated. I dropped the friend off in the subdivision and left the area. The house he was staying at burned an hour or so later. This was Saturday afternoon. I assumed that the whole ranch had burned (heavily forested) and resigned myself to it. The fire had started about 1000 yards from my place. Sunday afternoon I got word that my cousins house had survived and it is only a few hundred yards from mine. I still wasnt allowing myself to feel lucky. Monday evening I got word that we were safe, and my other brother that has a job that allowed us into the fire area took us in Tuesday. We went up the road in (burned on both sides) and found all three of our houses and barns still standing. I almost cried I was so happy. The fire was stopped by a Calfire dozer that came in and cut clearings around all of our buildings and almost directly along our property line. Absolutely amazing. The only things that burned were an old motorhome that should have been in the scrap yard anyway, and the two shipping containers that I put all of my important papers into while I was in the process of moving. Unfortunately they contained 20 years of Bellanca information, logs AW certs for my projects and I think the logs for my plane were in there. Most of my best tools were in there also. The house that I had just sold, burned to the ground, but I still had a few parts left in the hanger, and my big backhoe was still there. I dont know anything yet on if the hanger survived. My own plane is hangered at Crazy Creek Glider Port, and I have no idea how it fared. None of us are allowed into the area for another few days, but it is raining hard right now, so maybe it will be sooner. I am very lucky to have lost so little, and I would be jumping for joy, except that almost all of my friends in the area lost homes and cars and some almost lost their lives. I will let you know later how my plane came out. Grant.
 
I found out that my plane survived, but I think The logs were in the containers that burned. I know that logs can be re-created, but I have no idea how an AW cert can be replaced. I have been told that it is difficult. Maybe some of you I.A.s can give me some advice. And again, thanks to all of you that were concerned, and a big thanks to Blimpy for the kind offer of a roof over my head. There are a lot of good people out there in Bellanca Land. _____Grant.
 
Grant, glad to hear the plane made it. Do you still have the CD? If not, we can pretty much verify the AD's in an afternoon, and put them in a new log book. Read FAR §91.417 for required maintenance records. Hopefully the IA who did the last annual will have records of the total time and SMOH of appropriated parts...(engine, airframe and prop). The CD should have any (all??!) 337s. Let me know. Larry
 
Don't count out what's in the "container." Check it out quickly before the rains come. Sometimes stacked/packed papers survive..a bit scorched in an oxygen starved container.
Dan
 
They still havent let us back into the area yet. I just got in for a short time Tuesday, and was worried that if I opened the doors, it might flare up. I hope they let us in shortly, and I hope some of the paperwork didnt burn. I suspect it will be heart breaking when I open the doors, but I can be hopeful. Larry, I think I understand the re-constructing of the logs, but what about the A.W. cert? Dont I have to apply to the Feds for that? Feeling lucky to be safe, but a little bewildered. _____Grant.
 
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