Archive for October, 2006

We’ve listened to the experts on wildfire danger, we’ve read tips on how to survive a wildfire, and we’ve become a FireWise community.

However, on Friday (October 6^th) between one and two o’clock in the afternoon, we experienced a powerful electrical surge that posed another kind of fire danger. 

The power surge tripped breakers in several homes. The house on Lot 46 experienced a small fire near surge protectors and breaker panel boxes in the garage. The flames were extinguished and the garage doors opened to dissipate the smoke. One TV was lost. We lost our well pump’s “motor minder” on Lot 4. The surge also blew surge protectors on our computers and television. 

Response Process

Our concern was tripped breakers for water pumps and heat.  With winter around the corner, heat loss in homes could trigger water lines to freeze and break. We’ve maintained, for a few years, a list of property owners who requested notification in the event of a wildfire.  We used this list to e-mail or call property owners who were not here at HL.

Kris Perreault, our Property Manager and we have keys for several homes.  When we notified owners about the surge, we asked them if they wanted us to enter the house and check the breaker boxes.  We had an electrician here on Saturday which many owners used.  The electrician and Jack checked boxes and found many tripped breakers.  The electrician re-set them and checked the pump and heat breakers to ensure they were working properly.  Other owners checked out their own circuit breakers or called a caretaker to do it for them.  The bottom line is that out of town home owners were notified about the surge so they could take an appropriate action.

We notify Kris when we leave HL for more than a day.  We will continue to do so and provide him with our “Property Owners Notification List”.  Those with homes will be asterisked so that if a problem with their home is observed at any time, they can be notified and any necessary action taken.  In the event, Kris and we are gone at the same time; we recommend that Kris request another resident property owner or the RMC to notify owners of an emergency situation.

If you have any questions or want your name added to our list, please e-mail us at jgv5709@earthlink.net or call us at (505) 377-5907.

Marilyn Borich

Lot 4

At this summer’s annual property owner’s meeting, the membership formed a Road Committee to investigate the purchase of the Oshkosh “snow removal equipment”. The Committee was tasked to determine our possible options and report back to the membership by the end of October.

The committee has asked that the report be posted here, and on the “official” web site, so here it is. To view the road committee’s report, simply click here, or click on Road Committe Report to the right under pages.

Unofficial as it is, the first ever newsletter is up and posted on the hiddenlakenews web site. Edited by Marilyn Borich, this newsletter will reside on a permanent page at our web site rather than a “post”. That way, it’s always available.

To find the Harbinger, go to www.hiddenlakenews.com and click on “The Hidden Lake Harbinger“. It’s under pages on the right column.

Personally, I find the Harbinger to be a refreshing report of what’s been happening here at Hidden Lake and I believe that Marilyn is making every effort to be unbiased in her reporting. I can certainly say that issues where I know the facts personally, Marilyn has reported them accurately.

If you haven’t seen a copy of the Harbinger yet, this deserves a look!

Don Fink, Lot 94