While most residents quickly evacuated from Wrightwood on Tuesday evening, Sep. 10, local business owner, Greg of the Village Grind stayed on the mountain and opened the very next day to serve coffee and pastries to sheriffs and firefighters who were protecting the town of Wrightwood from the destructive Bridge Fire, a wildfire that continues to burn and is now the largest active fire in the state of California.
As Greg has consistently opened the coffee shop each day since the evacuation began, he’s received generous donations from Wrightwood residents who have “picked up the tab” and paid for the cups of coffee and food given to the emergency responders. But running low on supplies like milk and eggs, Greg was unsure of how long the coffee shop would stay open to serve crews.
Thankfully, the following day, both Wrightwood Market gas station and Wrightwood Fine Foods grocery store were able to join the coffee shop and opened for essential services. The stores provided supplies to emergency personnel and to the few residents who never left town while Wrightwood Fine Foods offered free items to the crews and even delivered bottled water and refreshments to their posts.
Wrightwood resident Majd Albadawi-Qagi also felt the need to chip-in and thank service personnel. After having her two horses, four ponies, goats, and other animals from her petting zoo business, Baa Baa Barn, safely rescued from the fire by countless volunteers who showed up with animal trailers that Tuesday night. She and her husband, Nibal Qagi, reflected on their exhaustion after the last animal was driven to safety, but quickly realized that it paled in comparison to the exhaustion levels of the firefighters after witnessing a group of firemen sleeping on the ground near Rivera Dr. who spent the entire night battling the flames.
The couple then took it upon themselves to purchase and deliver 70 Little Caesar’s pizzas from Phelan while Stater Bros. also donated gift cards to them, in order to buy drinks and snacks for the crews. Wrightwood neighbors saw the work they were doing on social media and reimbursed them money, including a donation from a local realtor funding over $1000 to buy even more pizzas for them the next day.
“Everyone was welcoming and grateful” said Majd about the crews she and her husband hand-delivered pizzas to, “they showed gratitude even while actively working on the fire!”
Firefighters helped them locate their colleagues by providing the couple a map of all the other crews set up around the perimeter of town so they knew where to drop off food and snacks next. Emergency personnel were overcome by the hospitality and said the community is very special, calling Wrightwood a hidden gem.
Majd decided she wanted to elevate her meal operation even further and contacted the owners of Wrightwood’s own local pizzeria, Mile High Pizza to see if they would be willing to open up their shop to bake pizzas just for the emergency crews. Thinking about all the food and ingredients that were sitting, wasting away in the local restaurants, she decided to rope in more resources and coordinated with CHP and National Guard to let the restaurant owners into town.
Over the weekend Mile High Pizza baked dozens of their fresh pizzas while Wrightwood Brew Co. also hopped on board to serve sandwiches with Mexico Lindo joining in as well, by cooking delicious tacos. All local restaurants, coming together to support the brave firefighters and emergency responders by doing their best to accommodate and serve the crews that are keeping their businesses and town safe.
Majd and Nibal mentioned that they couldn’t have done this meaningful work without the support of the Wrightwood community.
“Everything we’ve done is a selfless act and we did everything we could to give back. We, on behalf of our town, want to thank everyone involved because the damage could have been much, much worse,” said Nibal.
Majd now hopes that when the town is safe and open, the community can come together to support another local restaurant in town, the Blue Ridge Inn due to the devastating loss that owners Mel and Chuck have experienced from losing their family home that was destroyed in the fire.
“I don’t need money or praise, all I ask for is the community to help out, support, or donate money for the owners of the Blue Ridge Inn,” said Majd.
You can support Wrightwood businesses by visiting them once it is safe for the public to do so, as the community recovers from the destruction of the Bridge Fire in the coming months.
