Angela Stires is embraced by her daughter Nov. 21 at the community center, which opened up for people displaced by the landslide. Stires lives about a mile farther down the highway from the slide zone and evacuated after the slide cut access to homes in the area.
People living near the landslide's path had a harrowing night Nov. 20, as homes were evacuated and first responders searched for people who were unaccounted for.
Stan Guggenbickler was missing overnight after going for a drive on the evening of Nov. 20. He had baked a cake for his son's 18th birthday and wanted to let the cake cool before frosting it, so he headed up the road from his house at Panhandle Trailer Court to Middle Ridge cabin in his truck.
After turning onto the road to Middle Ridge, debris covered his exit, trapping him. "It happened 30 seconds after I drove across it," Guggenbickler said. "The road, it just fell right off. Took all the dirt, everything."
The slide was 3,000 feet long and intercepted the road in two places. It wasn't the same one that destroyed three homes at 11-Mile, but it was on the same mountain.
"I wish I'd stayed home and waited for (the cake) to cool," Guggenbickler added.
He slept in his truck and began heading back to town by foot the next morning. He had prepared himself for a long walk, since he'd learned via his truck radio that nobody was allowed to drive past 6-Mile. Thankfully, state troopers picked him up at the junction near Pats Creek Road.
"Everything happened for the good," Guggenbickler said.
Once he got home safely, he baked his son a new cake.
The 11-Mile slide occurred a few driveways toward town from Mandy Simpson's house. Shortly before 8:51 p.m., "we heard it happening," she said. "We weren't sure if it was just the wind or not. I was ready to scream at my kid to get out of the house, but it happened so fast and stopped so fast, we wouldn't have been able to get out."
"Luckily, my house is safe," she added.
She evacuated farther down the road with her boyfriend and child and on Nov. 22, was waiting for the go-ahead to return home.
Past 9-Mile, 55 homes - including the one where Simpson and her family took shelter - were still without power days after the slide. The road through the debris was cleared on Sunday, Nov. 26, and work began shortly after to restore power lines.
Angela Stires moved to Wrangell from Palmer a year ago, and lives at 12.6-Mile. On the evening of Nov. 20, "the dogs started barking and our power went out," she said. In Palmer, her family experienced frequent power outages, so Stires typically looks at the clock when the outages start, so she can measure how long they last. The clock read 8:45 p.m. when the lights went out that night, according to Stires.
Her family stayed where they were, listening to radio updates, until the firefighters arrived and initiated the evacuation process. "They were super nice and super polite," she said. "My kids, two of them want to be firefighters now."
Eric Yancey picked up the Stires from Charlie Hazel's dock with his boat, the Rainforest Islander, and transported them past the slide area to town at about 3:12 a.m. A crowd of around 40 to 50 community members greeted the evacuees once they arrived, Stires said, and even helped carry the family's puppy, who was nervous about water travel, off the boat.
Yancey said he transported about 19 people into town that night.
Stires and her family stayed at the Stikine Inn. "The Stik has been awesome," she said. "They gave us all rooms, even with our dogs and everything. They were up all night getting people in."
After settling it at the Stik, her family took advantage of the Parks and Recreation community center, which has opened its facilities to people who have been displaced by the disaster. Her children entertained themselves on scooters at the old gym. "It's truly awesome," she said of the community effort.
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