A bad
brought down two large trees outside Richard Newsom’s house in Montara almost two weeks ago.
“I heard a snap and then about 10 or 15-20 minutes later, somewhere in there, I heard this huge thump – that you feel the whole house shake when things this big come down and there were two of them,” Newsom said.
Newsom was trapped, unable to get out of his driveway. His car was smashed. Then something incredible happened.
“For about four hours, there was like an army of people out here with chainsaws,” Newsom said. “For the most part, I knew who they were but some people came that I didn’t even know – with chainsaws.”
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Neighbors like Gary and Nancy Smith jumped in to help.
“We just came out and I just started cutting and piling the debris on the edge of the street,” Gary Smith said. “I know county and fire and everybody else is really busy and so it’s important for us to be self-sufficient.”
“This was during the storm,” Nancy Smith said. “So it was still windy and rainy, heavy rains, but people kept helping even despite the weather.”