Roughly half a year later after Evan discovered the “glory hole” in Lake Berryessa, Napa County was hit with something that would lodge him straight back into the news headlines. Evan was fast asleep on the night of October 8th. Around 11:30 PM he was awakened by many frantic and concerned text messages from people who were checking on him to see how he was.
He was so confused by the text messages that he had to see what was going on. When he got the news about what had happened, he knew that he needed to get there fast.
Napa County Crisis
The heavy rains main have been flooding the spillway, but that wasn’t the only catastrophe that people were worried about. There was a lake called Lake Oroville, and it was almost the same as Lake Berryessa, but with some minor differences. The similarities included that it was a man-made body of water, the dam was rather large, and it had a spillway. This spillway was designed much differently than the one in Lake Berryessa.
The waters had increased and it began to flood out of the dam, and became a threat to those living in the area. A whopping 18,000 people had to evacuate. Even though that was all going on, there were still more surprises to come for Evan back at Lake Berryessa.
Growing Interest
At first, Evan didn’t realize how rare what he captured was. It didn’t take long for other people in the area to notice the same thing. The word about the hole in Lake Berryessa was spreading like wildfire. People were flooding the area after Evan’s YouTube video had people in awe.
There were tons of people and drones flying around trying to capture this rare sighting. This wouldn’t be the only time he stumbled upon something amazing.
Up In Flames
On the night of October 8th there was a terrible forest fire. This wasn’t uncommon, seeing as in the fall of 2017 both Northern and Southern California were hit by numerous wild fires, making them the worst in the state’s history. This particular forest fire had broken out in three points across Evan’s county.
The wind was gusting enough in the Lake Berryessa area to cause to fires to spread like crazy. They were spreading so fast that Evan was concerned they would reach his home. Something needed to be done to stop this, and it needed to be done fast.
Napa Is In Danger
The fires were so bad that the local residents surrounding Lake Berryessa were encouraged to pack their belongings and move to a safe area. Napa County’s wildfires were about to make history, if they hadn’t already. Evan Kilkus’ father thought that the fires were dangerous enough to reach his home as well, so he also joined the other local residents who decided to flee their homes over the first couple days of the wildfires.
Although everyone was leaving the area for safety at a shelter nearby, Evan was staying. But why? What could he possibly think he was going to do?