Approximately 1,800 PG&E customers in the Lake Don Pedro, La Grange and Coulterville area were affected by a power outage caused by the onslaught of last week’s storm.

The power outage began on Wednesday, and for some customers, lasted until Saturday.

I want to share my story and invite those who were a part of this last El Nino party to submit their storm survival tips to Mariposa County Fire at mpafire@mariposacounty.org. Submissions will be collected through Friday, February 5, and a list compiled and shared with the local media and posted to the county fire web site at www.mariposacounty.org/fire.

This is part of the new Mariposa County Fire Vision 2010 campaign, “Help us help you.” Be a part of the solution by helping your neighbors better prepare for upcoming storms.

I returned home from work on Wednesday to total darkness and the temperature in my home a chilly 53.5 degrees. First priority was lighting, second a fire.

Problem one: My flashlight was dim so I needed new batteries. Next, I fumbled around for matches to light candles. That taken care of, it was time to go outside to get firewood, only to find that the firewood bin was empty.

This meant a trip to the woodpile in the down-pouring rain and hurricane winds. So, now I have wet wood to deal with.

Well, I am not a great fire starter, so the fire was literally out until my husband got home. Adding layers of clothing, gloves and a beanie, I began making a mental list of what I would do.

I made a trip to the garage fridge for fresh batteries and loaded all the flashlights, then placed mini battery-operated lamps in the bathrooms.

Oh wait, the bathrooms. We are on a well, so guess what: no water!

The rest of the evening was spent dealing with setting up camp in the living room next to the wood-burning stove, placing jugs of water in the bathroom for toilet flushing, packing food in coolers, placing extra ice in the freezer to keep things frozen and trying to fix something to eat for dinner, which ended up being sandwiches.

I thought to myself, this might be kind of fun. Each day that followed was pretty much the same routine, with a few added conveniences and duties like a Coleman stove and griddle for cooking, collecting rain water for flushing toilets and glow sticks to light bathrooms and hallways – a bit safer than candles.

By Friday, things were getting a bit old, shall we say. I went from “This is kind of fun” to “I like camping, but not in my house!”

I was more than happy to get in my car at 4:30 am to drive to work. At least I was warm and could wash my hair in the bathroom sink, have a hot cup of tea and something warm to eat.

Then finally, a little after 4 am on Saturday, I heard the sounds of my house coming to life: The heater kicked on, the water heater started making that welcome bubbling, clanking noise meaning hot water is on the way, clocks started flashing and hallelujah, the back porch light flickered on. Yeah! It was over and we survived!

What’s your story? We look forward to hearing from you. Share your storm survival tips with us at mpafire@mariposacounty.org.