About 12:30 on Thursday, May 10th, a fire broke out at the KBRT radio station approximately 5 miles from Avalon. Pushed by winds up to 25 MPH, the fire rapidly descended on the town, prompting a massive effort by City of Avalon and LA County Fire assets, assisted by SCICo and Conservancy personnel, and a huge volunteer turn out by the residents.

The town was spared by a lucky shift in the wind and the heroic efforts of the aircrews, but the Gun Club's range structures and all their contents, with the exception of the trap machine,were totally destroyed.

Charlie Elias, Gary Konigsmark, Danny Guzman, Dan O'Connor,Mark Long, Terry Felts, Mark Tasca, Dave Long, Tim Morosco, Carl at PBBS, and especially Eddie Hoffman and his cat.

The club faces an impending financial crisis as the refuse removal costs are likely to take a fatal bite out of the club's bank account. We are all hoping that someone else is going to pick up the tab, but that probably isn't going to happen. In addition, the gun club desperately needs some kind of structure or structures to house what steel plates and such we were able to salvage, and to house target stands and related equipment as they are procured. We may be able to get a container that is already here on the island but if we are ever to replace the locker room and reloading shed, it is going to take more resources than we currently have available. The next order of business will be to replace the cover over the shooting line and the shooting bench, followed by whatever improvements we will be able to afford.