Some local campground owners say they will either provide safe accommodations or ask campers to leave Sunday if Hurricane Irene blows into town with any force.

“I won’t let anyone come in Sunday. We have some pretty tall pines here,” said Carol Watson of Paris, who takes care of Two Lakes Campground on Route 26 in Oxford. The site has trees that are 80 to 100 feet tall.

“I want everyone gone, just to be safe,” she said.

On Thursday night, 11 campers were at the camp. About 20 are expected on a usual summer weekend, but Watson said she has told all of the campers, including seasonal campers, they must leave the campground Sunday. Anyone coming to camp for the weekend will also be told they must leave by Sunday.

While the campground was almost deserted Friday except for the numerous seasonal motor homes occupied largely by local people on the weekends, one group of campers said they were not worried.

“I don’t worry about hurricanes,” said Stephen Degoart of Auburn, who along with his wife, Jane, was spending the week at Two Lakes Campground with their grandchildren, Cameron, Damien and Laila, and their dog, Rusty.

“I was down in Georgia for (Hurricane) Katrina and it chased me all the way up, but it never caught me,” said Degoart, a truck driver who was driving back to Maine when Katrina hit the South.

Timing of the storm is good, said many campground owners, because those staying for a week are usually leaving on Saturday and many who were expected to come in late Saturday or Sunday have called to cancel.

“We had a couple of people call to cancel already, but it really is winding down to the end of our season,” said Sharon Phillips, office manager at Papoose Pond Camping Resort in North Waterford. Phillips said she is offering cabins to those who had planned to tent “so they don’t get blown away.”

At Vacationland Campground in Harrison, owner Gretchen Osgood said she had advised those with reservations that she would decide whether to close when the storm gets near. Seasonal campers had pulled their boats from Crystal Lake. The campground also had a tree service come in recently to clean up tree damage from recent winds and to remove dead limbs to help alleviate the upcoming storm damage.

The bottom line, Osgood said, is the campers’ safety. If she feels the storm is going to put anyone’s well-being in jeopardy, she will ask that they leave. “It has nothing to do with money,” she said.

At Littlefield Beaches Campground in Locke Mills, the owner, who identified herself only as Lisa, said she had been calling those with reservations to let them know they can come to the campground, but if they must leave because of the storm, they will have to go toward Route 2 in New Hampshire, where she believes they will be safer from the storm.

As for Carol Watson at Two Lakes Campground in Oxford, the decision was simple. If the storm hits with full force, no one will be at the campground, including herself.

“I’m going home. Quick!” she said.

In Dixfield, campers and campground owners said they would hunker down. They don’t expect much from Irene, other than some wind and rain.

“Personally, I don’t think it’s going to be that bad,” said E.J. Gerrier, the owner of Pejepscook Camp Ground.

“I think it’s a lot of hullabaloo about nothing,” he said. “I’m sure we’ll get a wind storm, but I don’t think it’s going to be as ridiculous as they say.”

But, just to be on the safe side, they have set up railroad cars.

“Those weigh an incredible amount and nothing’s going to move them anytime soon, so if it gets too out of hand, we’ll ride it out in them,” Gerrier said.

The campground opened this spring, so Irene will be its first hurricane.

“We’ve got a lot of woods, so I don’t think our situation is immediate or pressing, but we’ve let everybody know: Your trailer’s going to rock, so hang onto your hats,” Gerrier said.

Awnings on several campers and mobile homes were already stowed.

“They act like a big damn kite, you know,” Gerrier said. “They’ll flip it right over. A small trailer like mine, it’s an easy target.”

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