In the first three episodes of this series, we shared stories from the panicked evacuations and dramatic rescues of hundreds of people trapped at Mammoth Pool Reservoir in the Sierra Nevada. They’d fled there over Labor Day weekend 2020, as the Creek Fire consumed their campground and closed in on the lake. 

This week, we step back from that narrative with an epilogue. In a conversation with KVPR colleague Kathleen Schock, Kerry Klein checks in on these three families a year later: How have they recovered? How do they look back at the experience? And who is suing whom?

On this week’s Valley Edition: How COVID-19 outbreaks in rural schools affect the surrounding communities.

Plus, why dozens of Cal Fire firefighters have suffered from heat illness while training.

And the rich history of drag performance and LGBTQ activism in the Central Valley. Listen to these stories and more in the podcast above. 

The surge of the Delta variant of COVID-19 has created new risks for children, especially those with special needs. To better understand the risks, Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke with Dr. David Sine, medical director for the pediatric palliative care program at Valley Children’s Hospital. 

Laura Garcia stands outside her home with two of her kids and their ducks, chickens and goats in Raisin City, a small unincorporated community southwest of Fresno. It’s a morning in early September, and she’s wearing a mask because her oldest daughter, Jennifer, who attends Raisin City Elementary school, tested positive for COVID-19 in late August. 

She suspects her daughter contracted the virus at school. She says she reached out to other parents in her daughter’s class to let them know. 

The International Imperial Court System, one of the oldest and largest LGBTQ non-profits in the world, uses galas and drag performances to raise money in support of the community. Fresno’s chapter, the Imperial Dove Court, has made a lasting impact here in the Valley. To learn more, Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke with LGBTQ historian Chris Jarvis, licensed marriage and family therapist Jeffery Robinson, Fresno State womens’ studies professor Kat Fobear, and Nick Patrick Gonzales, also known as Miss Nikki, who is a former empress of the court.

There are many ways to be heroic. Some of them are death-defying—like rushing into a burning forest to save hundreds of strangers—but some aren’t, and even talking someone down from a panic attack, or offering a ride in the middle of a wildfire, can pay dividends in serendipitous, even life-saving ways.

On this week’s Valley Edition: We continue our podcast Escape From Mammoth Pool. This week: the heroes, big and small, who helped more than 200 campers survive being trapped by the Creek Fire.

Plus, the strain on local hospitals as they cope with the latest surge of COVID-19.   

And a never-before seen art exhibition is headed to the Bakersfield Museum of Art. Listen to these stories and more in the podcast above. 

Yet again, Central Valley hospitals are overflowing with COVID-19 patients, which has stretched our medical systems thin and created disturbing consequences for anyone in need of critical care. To learn more about how hospitals are coping with the most recent surge, Valley Edition Host Kathleen Schock spoke with Donna Hefner, president and CEO of Sierra View Medical Center in Porterville, Dr. Danielle Campagne, medical director of American Ambulance, Dr. Robert Ferdman, assistant chief of hospital medicine at Kaiser Permanente Fresno Medical Center, and Dr.