By Patric Hedlund, TME

When the snowstorm was blowing into these mountains two weeks ago, Loretta and Charles McCollum were on their way to San Francisco to see the Harry Potter & the Cursed Child play.
“My youngest son and granddaughter are huge Harry Potter fans,” Loretta McCollum reports.

A party of 15 family members planned to attend the play together. The McCollums had driven 270 miles and were within about 30 miles of their destination at about 1 p.m. They were on Highway 101. Rain was pouring down.

Sudden Alarms–Get Out Now!

“I felt like we were in Ireland,” Loretta McCollum recalls. “Suddenly all the alarm lights began flashing on my dashboard, and the car lost power.

“I couldn’t get to the next exit. I pulled over and…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

Above and Left: An engine fire exploded in the car of Mountain Community residents Loretta and Charles McCollum while driving on the freeway. The car was burned beyond ability to diagnose the cause. Below, left: This weekend, Shawn Coulter opened his hood to find deposits of flammable material in two of his family’s cars in PMC.

Rodents chewed insulation from the hood and used it to build a nest in the Coulter family’s Ford in PMC.

Woodrats are the likely villain in much of the damage to local cars.

To see full stories with photos, please purchase a copy of the newspaper at many locations (click this link for a list) throughout the Mountain Communities.

Or, have your newspaper delivered via mail and include internet access. Just call 661-245-3794. Classified ads are FREE to paid subscribers! See front page at www.mountainenterprise.com for details.

The e-Edition is available now with full photos and stories at The Mountain Enterprise e-Edition. Select the 2020-0131 edition.

(subscriber login required)

This is part of the January 31, 2020 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

Have an opinion on this matter? We'd like to hear from you.