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Bobby Hunt’s handcrafted tinwork salvaged from the fire, with its wildfire patina. [Photo By Jerry McGillivray]Story by By Jerry McGillivray

Bobby Hunt’s handcrafted tinwork salvaged from the fire, with its wildfire patina. [Photo By Jerry McGillivray]

On September 8, 2020, while vacationing in Idaho, Bobby and Faye Hunt phoned home to check in with their friend and house sitter, Randy. Randy told the Hunts he’d evacuated from the Hunts’ Three Forks, Trinity County, California home in advance of the August Complex Fire. Aware of the developing wildfires, the Hunts had made numerous inquiries about the fires’ status before traveling to Idaho. Because fire officials said the Three Forks community was not in jeopardy from the fires, the Hunts were stunned to learn from Randy their property would likely burn.

After speaking with Randy, Bobby and Faye logged on to the video surveillance system overlooking their Three Forks homestead. The Hunts’ property was meticulously groomed, with fire protection measures, including sprinklers on the roof, an inch-and-a-half fire hose, and 35,000 gallons of stored water. Through the camera-mounted microphones, they heard a firefighter say: “This place shouldn’t burn; it’s so clean.” From Idaho, the Hunts watched as firefighters cut down trees and sprayed their house with a garden hose.

After firefighters retreated, embers blew horizontally past the cameras ahead of the approaching firestorm. Deer were seen on camera, searching for an escape. The Hunts saw their home and a lifetime accumulation of possessions engulfed in flames before the internet connection with the cameras was lost. The fire crew hadn’t deployed the fire sprinkler system or used the inch-and-a-half fire hose to water the house and surrounding area. The Hunts later learned the fire consumed their home in only nine minutes.

The August Complex Fire would burn over one million acres and more than 900 structures in six counties.

Serving fifteen years, Bobby rose to the rank of Captain before retiring from the Ruth Lake Volunteer Fire Department. Bobby questions how a fire could move through a populated area with little warning. He speculates that backfires, fires intentionally set by fire crews to control the expansion of a wildfire, were to blame. “When backfires are lit in high winds, they can get out of control pretty fast.” However, he observes that efforts could be better coordinated between agencies, saying: “they all just do their own thing.”

Bobby and Faye had vacationed only a few days when their Three Forks property was lost to wildfire. After the fire, they hitched their trailer and formulated a plan as they drove back to Three Forks. They would return to assess the situation at the homestead but considered using their second home at Lake Mendocino, near Ukiah, California, as a backup home.

At Three Forks, the Hunts discovered their property was a complete loss. The two-story house, the garage with Bobby’s workshop below, and Faye’s sewing and photography studio in the loft above were burned to their foundations. Outbuildings were gone, and most of the trees were burned beyond recovery. Bobby described their reaction to the devastation: “I thought I would be able to handle it. But when I saw it, I just broke down and cried. And Faye cried. For weeks.” Before the fire, Faye remembers: “I used to be so ambitious.” But after the fire, “I lost the will to move around. I hope I get it back.”

Bobby and Faye Hunt by the swimming hole at their Three Forks homestead. [Photo By Jerry McGillivray]Three Forks was named for its proximity to the confluence of the North, Middle, and South forks of the Mad River. The Hunts’ homesite is only steps from the river’s edge. The house was built a century ago as a line shack used by trappers, shepherds, and travelers before hotels and roads existed in the area.

Bobby and Faye Hunt by the swimming hole at their Three Forks homestead. [Photo By Jerry McGillivray]

Bobby and Faye purchased the Three Forks property in 1989 and were drawn to the property from the start. “The place was on the market for five years, but no one wanted to live out here,” Faye recalls. “It’s tough. We never would’ve made it here if Bobby wasn’t as smart as he is.” As much as they loved their new property, Faye insisted on a solo trial run before committing to live there full time. “I told Bobby that if I could manage everything on the property by myself for two weeks, pumping water, the generator, I could live here.” After Faye completed the two-week trial, they knew the Three Forks property was home.

Over the following three decades, the Hunts’ home became a showpiece decorated and furnished with family heirlooms and other items collected over a lifetime. The interior of the house was a masterpiece. Their home overflowed with history and was filled with old west artifacts, animal mounts, and other unique handcrafted and antique items. Faye says that friends would sometimes bring their friends along when visiting, “Just to show them our house.”

Throughout the year, Faye would buy and store Christmas presents she planned to gift to family and friends, “Because you can’t just run to town any time you want.” “Seventy-five percent of the ornaments on the Christmas tree were handmade by me or given to us by friends. We took a week to take down, pack and put away all the Christmas decorations. It was a fun house,” Faye recounts. Unfortunately, the fire destroyed all Christmas decorations and the 2020 Christmas gifts. The volume of lost possessions was too large to catalog from memory, and another thing is remembered every day.

2020 was a devastating year for Bobby and Faye, but 2018, two years earlier, had dealt a blow that no parent should ever have to endure. In April of that year, their firstborn daughter, Neva, passed away from cancer. The passing of their daughter made the loss of photos and home movies documenting the Hunt family history even more heartbreaking.

Bobby’s 1968 Triumph Trophy motorcycle at rest. [Photo By Jerry McGillivray]In the aftermath of the fire, there was little to salvage. The work mainly consisted of debris clean-up. Crews arrived to pick up, remove, and dispose of the burned remains of the Hunts’ homestead. Dead and dying trees were felled, and their stumps were removed. Bobby pulled the burned hulk of his 1968 Triumph Trophy “Round Barrel” Motorcycle from the rubble of the garage. The Triumph, along with the charred remains of other motorbikes, four-wheelers, and a vintage garden tractor, are now arranged along a fence line to memorialize things that once were. Some of Faye’s jewelry was recovered from the remains of the house, much of it smelted to unrecognizable form, with few pieces able to be cleaned and restored to wearable condition. Other heirlooms lost to the fire include Bobby’s grandfather’s musket and his father’s first rifle. Sifting through the ashes, Bobby found what remained of those keepsakes.

Bobby’s 1968 Triumph Trophy motorcycle at rest. [Photo By Jerry McGillivray]

The loss of their possessions was enormous, but the emotional loss was unimaginable. Bobby and Faye had invested heart and soul into their home place. Watching work crews mechanically sift through their life’s work was painful, but the process was not without brighter moments. In one instance, a young man from the clean-up crew approached Bobby, saying: “I think your wife might be looking for this,” his outreached hand holding a diamond ring. “He didn’t have to do that. He could’ve walked off with that ring. It shows you that there are good people in the world,” Bobby acknowledged.

The Three Forks community is a small but close-knit group of people, where the nearest neighbor may be a mile or two away. The Hunts and their neighbors love and watch after each other like family. The fire spared some in the neighborhood, while others lost everything. One neighbor lost their home, livestock, and pets, and a few days later, her husband passed away, likely due to health issues worsened by the stress of the fire.

When leaving on vacation in 2020, Bobby and Faye never imagined they’d still be living in their trailer a year later. Though they remained committed to restoring the homestead, returning to their Lake Mendocino house remained an option.

On September 12, 2021, one year to the week after losing their Three Forks homestead, Bobby and Faye received another fateful phone call from their friend, Garret, asking: “Do you remember that thing you said could never happen? Well, it just happened.” Garret told Bobby and Faye that Mendocino County’s Hopkins Fire had destroyed the Hunts’ Lake Mendocino home.

When the Hunts purchased their Lake Mendocino property in 1973, a new neighbor volunteered to cut a building pad on the empty lot with his bulldozer. Bobby and Faye then spent their free nights and weekends building their lake view vacation home. For decades, the Hunt family- Bobby, Faye, their two daughters, Neva and Annette, their grandchildren, and friends enjoyed weekend vacations and holidays at the lake house. Many summers were spent at the lake house, swimming, boating, sailboarding, and enjoying each other’s company. As Bobby remembers: “It was fun. I can’t believe how lucky we were.”

The Mendocino County Hopkins Fire burned nearly 250 acres and more than 40 structures, including at least 30 homes. The fire was determined to have been intentionally started, and a 20-year-old Mendocino County man is charged with one count of arson in connection with the fire.

Bobby Hunt’s barbed wire deer and carved wooden bear stand sentry before the sidewall of a makeshift shed. It’s decorated with his tinwork art salvaged from the fire. Most are of animals, and are smallish. Some, attached to the fence facing the road are larger. One scene depicts dinosaurs; T-Rex, pterodactyl, etc. another scene is of a flying saucer with E.T.’s standing by. All were hand painted but now wear a beautiful patina of fire and weather. [Photo By Jerry McGillivray]Two years after the August Complex Fire and one year after the Mendocino County Hopkins Fire, the transformation of the Hunts’ Three Forks homestead is remarkable. Dead and soot-covered trees have been disposed of, and remnants of the house and outbuildings have been cleared away. The solar electric and water systems, destroyed by the fire, have been restored. Where the garage once stood lies the hollowed-out footprint of its foundation, soon to be replaced by a new garage and workshop for Bobby and studio for Faye.

Bobby Hunt’s barbed wire deer and carved wooden bear stand sentry before the sidewall of a makeshift shed. It’s decorated with his tinwork art salvaged from the fire. Most are of animals, and are smallish. Some, attached to the fence facing the road are larger. One scene depicts dinosaurs; T-Rex, pterodactyl, etc. another scene is of a flying saucer with E.T.’s standing by. All were hand painted but now wear a beautiful patina of fire and weather. [Photo By Jerry McGillivray]

Bobby’s sculptures stand sentry over the property. The bear. The cougar. The deer, crafted by Bobby from hand-bent barbed wire, stand in homage to deer not seen alive since the day of the fire. The grounds are neatly graded, mowed, and groomed. Where the hundred-year-old home stood before now stands a sparkling new house, built offsite, delivered to the homestead, and settled onto its new foundation. Faye has chosen the interior paint colors, the finishing touches are nearly complete, and their new home is almost ready for move-in.

Bobby and Faye told their story on a crisp, sunny, late summer morning after returning hand in hand from their morning walk of the perimeter fence line. They greeted me with a smile, exhaled breath visible in the cool air. The Hunts’ physical appearance belies their age. At 80, Bobby expresses himself with a subtle but witty sense of humor, and Faye tells me in her warm, gentle voice: “I’ll be 80 in two years.” With a smile in his voice, Bobby says: “Something good always comes out of the bad. You just have to recognize it.”

The Hunts love their Three Forks home-place. In addition to selecting the final resting place there for his ashes, Bobby explains: “I just love the history of this place. I wouldn’t be building in a fire area if I didn’t.”

With perseverance, the Hunts’ homestead is becoming a showpiece again.

Bobby Hunt’s chainsaw sculpted bear watching over the Hunts’ homestead.

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Incredible folks, would it be that we all could endure so much and still remain so human.

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