By Joel Reese
While many fire crews who came to West Marin to fight the Inverness Ridge blaze said they'd never seen such an outpouring of affection from a community, retired firefighters Bill and Candi Clayton who sold the crews T-shirts said they'd never seen such a hostile crowd.

The Claytons, who are from Valley Springs, Calaveras County, have been selling T-shirts at wildfires across the country for four years.

Never did they have a problem with the local community like the one they experienced at their stand, which was temporarily erected at Highway 1 and B Street in Point Reyes Station.

Part of the difference here, Mrs. Clayton acknowledged, was that their stand was in a public place.

"We're normally closer to the firefighters' base camp and not in town, but it's never been this bad," Mrs. Clayton said, shielding her eyes from the noonday sun Monday. "We've really had a lot of problems with the locals. It's been really bad."

"Two guys pulled up last night and said, 'Leave, or we're going to shoot you,'" Mrs. Clayton said. "That really shook me up."

During the course of an interview, a man walked over to the stand and said, "You shouldn't be making money off a tragedy like this. You ought to be set on fire."

Bob, who was silkscreening shirts, yelled back, "We're doing something to help the community! What are you doing? What are you doing to help?"

The man said nothing else, laughing as he walked back to his car.

"Boy, that was not necessary," Bob said, putting his cigar on the table next to the five-armed silkscreening machine. "That pushed my buttons real fast."

The Claytons -- who have sold T-shirts at wildfires in California, Arizona, Idaho, and Montana -- say they are just making a living and meeting a need.

They repeatedly point out that they've given proceeds from past fire sales to community funds after they were done selling.

Bob noted that they gave $500 to the Sherman Oaks Burn Center after the 1993 Malibu fires.

"I think that's a sizable amount," he said, noting they have not yet determined how much they are going to give to the local Lend-A-Hand Fund.

After the accident, they opened their T-shirt shop in Valley Springs. Selling the shirts at fires "is the next best thing to firefighting," Mrs. Clayton said. "I can't escape it. Firefighting is in my blood."

The design of the t-shirts they're selling shows a square-jawed, muscular firefighter leaping over a blaze, pickax and shovel in hand. The shirts are emblazoned with the words "Cuttin' line and kickin' ash! -- Mt. Vision Fire, Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County, California, October 1995."

The shirts came in white, red, black, tie-dyed, oatmeal, and ash. They cost between $15 and $22.

"You put in a lot of effort and sweat and time, and the shirts are a reminder that you've done some good work for people," said Chris Collins, a fire prevention specialist with the Marin County Fire Department. He bought two extra-large white shirts.

"I'm just glad to have the chance to get a shirt," said Larkspur Fire Captain Steve Braun, who bought an extra large. "I buy them whenever I get a chance."

When told of the strong feelings against the stand, Braun said, "Aw, [the Claytons] aren't hurting anybody. They're just trying to make a living."

Retired Fire Captain Pete Martin said the fire T-shirts are a "tradition" among firefighters.

"This is an okay thing that's going on," he said. "You go to Maui, you get a Maui T-shirt. I've got a whole closetful of [fire shirts]."

Mrs. Clayton said she and her husband see the shirts as a way of providing the firefighters with moral support and the community with financial aid.

She said they donate money to the community's funds for several reasons: to help with the local recovery from the disaster, because it's a tax write-off, and for larger, more spiritual reasons.

"That big guy up there, he's watching us," she said. "When my day comes, I want that book to have some good things by my name."