Sharing stories of wildfire victims
At least 41 people have died in wildfires that are raging across Northern California. Inside are some of their stories.
Despite winds that brought fears of spreading fires on Saturday, crews made ground against the more than a dozen wildfires burning throughout Northern California over the weekend.
The massive Tubbs Fire was 70 percent contained at 36,390 acres late Monday morning, and the 51,064-acre Atlas fire was close behind at 68 percent containment.
The Nuns Fire, which had grown to engulf four other wildfires, was 50 percent contained at more than 48,000 acres.
Firefighters made progress against blazes in Butte, Yuba, Mendocino and Nevada counties, too, including the deadly Redwood Valley Fire.
But after burning for a week, the wildfires left massive devastation in their wake — beyond the 5,700 buildings that were destroyed.
At least 41 people are dead and hundreds are still missing. Here are some of their stories:
Christina Hanson
Hanson’s relatives had been frantically looking for her for two days before they received the grim news that she had perished in the Tubbs fire at her home in Santa Rosa.
“Our search for Christina has come to an end,” her cousin Brittney Viculado tweeted late Tuesday night to the growing group of people following the search for Christina that had begun Monday morning.
“We have gotten news we have lost an angel,” wrote her husband, Frank Vinculado.
Hanson, 27, an avid volunteer for a local Alzheimer’s day care center, had spina bifida. The birth defect affects the spinal column, and she was confined to a wheelchair.
Early Wednesday, as she cried on the phone, Kathy Riordan, one of Hanson’s aunts, recounted what the family had pieced together about Hanson’s death.
The young woman had seen flames outside her window and called her stepmother, Jennifer Watson, at 1:37 a.m. Monday. Hanson lived in the Mark West area of Santa Rosa in an apartment behind her father’s home; she said she was scared, and couldn’t reach her father, Michael Hanson. “I don’t know what to do,” she told Watson.
Watson told her to hang up and that she would call Michael, which she did — on both his cell and landlines — but got no response. Suddenly, Watson said she was being ordered to evacuate from her home. She immediately called Christina back, but couldn’t reach her — neither could anyone else.
On Tuesday, a fire inspector found the remains of Hanson’s wheelchair and her leg braces next to the bed; the family was told Hanson had died.
“I can’t talk about this anymore,” said a sobbing Riordan. “She was a wonderful girl and we’re hurting. This is too much.”
Watson, who raised Hanson since she was 11, remembered her as a loving, happy, positive person who was talented in sign language and volunteered twice a week at Primrose assisted living center.
Christina’s father — who suffered third-degree burns over 50 percent of his body — remained Wednesday at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco.
“We told them to keep him sedated as long as possible,” Watson said. “We don’t think he’s going to be able to bear it. — Tracy Seipel and Eric Kurhi, San Jose Mercury News
Kai Logan Shepherd
Kai, 14, died as he and his parents and older sister attempted to outrun the Mendocino County’s Redwood Valley Fire on Monday. His body was found in the family’s driveway, his aunt Mindi Ramos said online.
The boy was among six people killed in that fire. He and his family were in the northern end of the valley when the blaze raced down the hill that morning. His sister and parents suffered severe burns and remain hospitalized.
“The life they knew is gone. Kai Logan is gone,” Ramos wrote on the fundraising site Generosity.com. “Our hearts are broken.”
Authorities said the family apparently left their home in two vehicles and were headed out a dirt road on a remote section of West Road when the flames arrived. The four apparently left the vehicles and ran. Kai appeared to have headed back toward their home and was found a little apart from his family.
Kai loved the San Francisco Giants and wrestling, and is being remembered by family as a sweet, brave, compassionate boy, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
Mendocino County investigators are going through the northern end of the valley where the fire struck looking for more bodies, assisted by students and doctors from Chico State University’s forensic anthropology department, officials said. — Eloísa Ruano González and Mary Callahan, Santa Rosa Press Democrat