Marilynn Reideler leaned out of her gray Ford F-150 truck on Wednesday and called to a woman pulling a suitcase up Robinson Ranch Road.
“Do you need a ride?”
The woman, who also had two boys with her, gladly accepted. She’d been walking for at least a mile from the shopping area at Plano Trabuco Road.
Reideler was exuberant about making room for everyone in the spacious cab of her nicely air-conditioned truck. They chatted while Reideler drove the group to the very top street of the Robinson Ranch community.
Since Monday, Sept. 9, when Reideler learned of the Airport fire, first reported in Trabuco Canyon near an area where the Trabuco Flyers Club flies model planes, she has been doing what she can to shuttle neighbors — or really, anyone she sees walking in the community — to their homes or down the hill to shop.
She even takes appointments for pickups.
With roads in the community closed to incoming traffic, Reideler’s impromptu shuttle service has filled a need for those who stayed behind, especially during a heat wave.
It started on Monday afternoon, when an out-of-town neighbor worried about her cat called Reideler and asked if she could help out. With an evacuation order in place, the sitter was unable to get to the house, and the neighbor feared for her pet.
Reideler promptly walked over and fed the animal. She was aware of the fire and saw some smoke in the distance but didn’t smell anything. By the time she got back to her home, police were knocking on doors, asking people to evacuate.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department initially issued an evacuation warning, but when the winds changed and the fire grew beyond the initial 20 acres, the warnings turned into evacuation orders, made through door-to-door knocking, warning systems, and social media.
While police can not force residents to leave their homes, sheriff’s Sgt. Frank Gonzalez said, evacuation orders are meant to safeguard lives.
Reideler and her husband packed valuables in case they needed to leave on Monday, but in the end, they stayed put.
“The sky was clear around us and the wind was still,” she said. “There was no smell of smoke or falling ash. We packed up and watched carefully for any changes. We are continuing to do so.”
As the flames moved away from the community, Reideler found her newest purpose when she saw a man wheeling his suitcase along the sidewalk.
“I asked him if he was leaving, and then said, ‘Let me give you a ride.’ “
By Wednesday, Sept. 11, she estimated she’d helped at least three to four dozen people, and wasn’t planning to stop anytime soon.
“I love it,” she said. “I go home and think I should do a project, but then I think, ‘How can I help those people walking up the hill?’ Then I go back out.”
It’s also helped her connect with neighbors she’s never met.
One of them was Melissa Romain, who was coming down Robinson Ranch Road when Reideler called to her from the truck. Romain initially declined the ride, saying she was taking advantage of getting some exercise, but she mentioned she was headed to local grocery stores.
Reideler immediately offered her phone number and said she’d pick her up when she was done and shuttle her back up to the top of the community.
“It’s been wonderful meeting neighbors; everyone has been so kind,” Romain said. “Normally, when would you stop and talk to a stranger stopping to talk in a truck? We’re not strangers anymore when this happens. I wish it was like this every day.
“It shows me, I need to go out and talk with my neighbor and figure out how I can help. I’ve had three people ask me if I want a ride. It’s really been a blessing even though this has been so concerning.”
The two women began sharing their stories about what Monday night was like and how they could see the huge orange flames from their homes. Romain talked about hearing the Orange County Fire Authority water helicopter thunder over her roof.
On Monday, the sound scared her. But Tuesday night, it was reassuring, she said.
“The nighttime has been the most scary with the hotspots,” she said. “You can see them clearly and it looks just like Armageddon — it’s so visible and red. The one they battled at the Bellview Trail, that was scary. It looked like a house just went up, but then they were on it.”
The two chatted a bit more and then Reideler offered Romain a ride to a canyon lookout point where they watched the smoke bellow from the canyons and saw the dark orange flames along a ridge behind their homes.
Every few minutes though, the helicopter with a long nozzle hanging from it would make a pass overhead and drop more water. Sometimes the flames would be extinguished, and white-gray smoke would rise. But then a new orange glow would flare up and the helicopter would come back again.
“It has been unbelievable to watch the response and how skilled they are,” Romain said of the firefighters.
Once Reideler dropped Romain in closer walking distance to the shopping area, she headed back to her post near the apartments, the area most of the community starts out at before they make the trek up the winding road.
She planned to keep at it until she wasn’t needed anymore.
“When I see other people out there offering rides, I think ‘I can go home,’ ” she said.
Meanwhile, firefighters continue to battle the blaze, and sheriff’s deputies are keeping the roads closed at Robinson Ranch as a precaution.
“I’m so happy we didn’t lose any lives in Orange County,” Gonzalez said. “The deputy sheriffs and firefighters went full hands on deck. I do believe it was a heroic effort that prevented that fire from spreading in that community. They responded in an instant and really pushed that fire away from homes.”
But Gonzalez also gave a nod to Reideler, calling her efforts “heartwarming.”
“I commend her heroism,” he said, “and caring for her community and neighbors.”
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