Nov. 10, 2018 – West Bend, WI – There’s a West Bend tie to the tragic stories going on in Thousand Oaks, California.
Steve Kissinger of West Bend has split his time between his hometown and a teaching job at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks for the past 28 years.
On Saturday, Kissinger spoke from his home in Thousand Oaks about the wildfires and the recent shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grill.
“I’m OK but it has been a horrible two days,” said Kissinger. “With the mass shooting that happened here at Thousand Oaks; one of the kids who got killed had been a student of ours. He graduated about two years ago from Cal Lutheran.”
Kissinger quickly shifted gears to the deadly wildfire.
“About 2 p.m. Friday the fires broke out. I have fires burning on two sides of me and one fire
Friends of mine had to spend the night here because they were evacuated. and the fire on the other side of me, they were evacuated.
That’s getting a little too close for comfort and there’s an evacuation zone about a quarter mile from my house.”
Kissinger said his cable and Internet went out, although he still has power.
“I can’t really keep track of what’s going on…. so I’m just waiting for the evacuation notice,” he said.
A truck outside his home already loaded with pictures and papers.
“It’s exciting,” he said with a nervous laugh.
Kissinger said the Santa Ana winds are “what fueled the fire.”
“Right now it’s really pretty calm outside but every once in a while there’s a little gust of wind and the helicopters are out dropping water.
“The fire that burned my friend’s neighbor’s house… that fire has now burned down to the ocean and the entire City of Malibu (southeast of Thousand Oaks) has been evacuated and it’s burning mansion after mansion.”
“I guess what makes this really bad is we had that mass shooting a couple days ago and it was mostly students involved. I don’t know how much is being broadcast in West Bend but the City of Thousand Oaks is usually rated as one of the safest cities in the country and we’ve lost that rating big time now,” Kissinger said.
The shooting happened Wednesday night, Nov. 7 at 11:30 p.m.
Kissinger said the bar had a country theme and was popular with students. “I went to bed early that night around 8:30 p.m. and by 4:30 a.m. my iPhone and iPad were ringing with multiple calls and notifications,” Kissinger said.
“I got up and the messages were from friends with their condolences about the shooting.
“When I turned on the TV I was just in disbelief. People say you just can’t believe this would happen in your own town…. and it does.”
Kissinger said he then spent the entire day watching TV. “School was closed and so was the campus,” he said. “Then once the fire broke out the shooting was overtaken by fire coverage.”
Questioned whether he was safe Kissinger said “not necessarily.”
“If I were to put money on it I’d say I’m fine but after that fire that happened last year in Ventura County which is about 30 miles from here, and also the one that happened up north last year …. nobody’s safe,” he said.
Kissinger said there is smoke all around but he can’t see the fire from his house.
“I haven’t really noticed the smell of smoke but my eyes have been burning all day and my nose has been stuffed up,” he said. “I’ve had all my windows and doors closed because it’s just not safe.”
Kissinger has lived through major fires before where he said it “looked like it was snowing because of all the ash” but he’s not seeing that this time.
“There are houses all around and usually the fires you hear about are out in the hillside and mountains and the brush is all burned and that’s how I used to think about these fires but it’s not that way anymore,” he said. “When a house in the city starts burning those winds take those embers and they can start bonfires anywhere in the city. So technically no, I’m not safe. My house could still burn down…. but because the winds have died down I don’t think it will happen.”
Over the weekend Kissinger said he was staying close to home. “I’m not driving around looking at anything because if there’s an evacuation alert I want to be ready and most of the roads around here are closed anyway,” he said. “The main freeway to town is closed and if I did have to evacuate I can’t tell you exactly where I would go.
“When the city is surrounded by fire you’re kind of limited. I think I would go north but I’m not sure.”
Aside from the roads being closed Kissinger said the grocery stores and restaurants are also closed.
The community where Kissinger lives has a population of about 131,000. “It may sound big but it seems like a small town,” he said. “It feels very much like West Bend with a small, friendly feel.”
Kissinger is preparing to return to West Bend later this month for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Stay tuned, we’ll bring you another update when Kissinger is back in town.
On a side note: The last time we spoke with Steve Kissinger was when he purchased the old Friedens Church on Highway P near Jackson. Click HERE to read that article.
