‘So thankful’: Gratitude for fire crews as all clear given
Sonoma County’s weeklong battle with the Kincade Fire appeared all but over Wednesday, after an army of firefighters held their hardwon perimeters overnight and evacuated residents began returning to their homes, many of which had been saved by brute force and luck.
By Wednesday evening, all but 5,800 of the 185,000 people who had been ordered evacuated were allowed to repopulate their neighborhoods in Windsor, Healdsburg, Santa Rosa and remote parts of the county. City officials in Windsor greeted the return
ing residents with waves and shouts of “welcome home” as the cars rolled through town.
“These firefighters worked so hard. The fact they saved every home in town is amazing,” said Mayor Dominic Foppoli. “I can’t think of anything else in the history of the city that has been this worthy of a cause to celebrate.”
A day earlier, Sonoma County officials had feared the blaze, fanned by another round of galeforce winds, would explode overnight, jump perimeter lines and enter more North Bay neighborhoods, including some that were being rebuilt after the 2017 Wine Country fires. Instead, Cal Fire got the upper hand.
By the end of the day Wednesday, containment was 45% and the fire’s footprint stood at 76,825 acres. Kincade had destroyed 266 structures, including 133 homes.
The flames were managed by an unusually large army — nearly 5,000 strong — of firefighters stationed all around the perimeter, but primarily on the western and eastern flanks, said Cal Fire Division Chief Jonathan Cox at an evening news conference.
“We’re reaping the rewards of that investment right now,” Cox said. He added that the predawn Wednesday successes were “a testament to all of the sweat and hours of physical labor that goes into every 1% of containment.”
Still, Cox added, “Until we get to that 80, 90% mark, there’s that potential. We can’t let our guard down.”
The firefighting focus on Wednesday was shifting to the eastern flank of the fire in Lake County, just west of Middletown, said Cal Fire public information officer and firefighter Edwin Zuniga.
“Now that we’ve secured that southwest portion, we’re going to try to put a lot more resources on the more active side to prevent this fire from spreading,” Zuniga said.
Cox added that the remaining 4,200 firefighters on site will be scouring the burn area for hot spots and other hazards caused by the flames, including precariously leaning trees and emberfilled stumps. “That’s the phase we’re in now,” he said. “That is a welcome break from actually fighting the front of the fire.”
The previously smokechoked skies across Sonoma County were bright blue as residents trekked home Wednesday.
In Windsor, a family pulled their RV into their driveway on Old Redwood Highway, back home after three days camping in the parking lot of the Graton Resort and Casino in Rohnert Park.
“We’re happy our home is here waiting for us,” said Debbi Tynan. “We feel so thankful.”
Some evacuees said that despite the hardship, they were grateful.
“This county did the right thing, it really did,” said Mary Ann BainbridgeKrause of the widespread evacuation orders. “Unfortunately, we had to learn this from the Tubbs Fire.”
At the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, hundreds of evacuees were eager to go home.
After three days at the center, “the party of 500 people” wasn’t feeling so fun, said Kelly Pemberto, 58, who evacuated his home in Windsor on Sunday.
Retired and disabled, he had been packed and ready to go, loading up the oxygen and medication he uses ahead of time.
“Keeping calm has been the biggest challenge,” he said. “I keep telling myself, ‘Whatever happens, It’ll be OK. We’re still alive and breathing.’ ”
He was looking forward to going home and taking a shower, like everyone inside the large building where the smell had progressively gotten worse.
Gov. Gavin Newsom visited evacuees at the Redwood Empire Food Bank in Santa Rosa, a popup food distribution center at the Kaiser Permanente parking lot Wednesday.
“If you don’t believe in science and you don’t believe in climate change, maybe you can believe your own eyes by coming out to California so you can experience these new realities,” he said of the frequency of redflag conditions. “But that does not mean we have to live in these kind of conditions where our lights are going off as often as they have been.”
The cause of the fire is still unknown. PG&E reported that equipment on one of its transmission towers broke near the fire’s origin point shortly before the blaze was reported Oct. 23. Power had been shut off in the area, but not on that specific transmission line.
As the threat from Kincade ebbed on Wednesday, Tricia
Zimmerman prepared beef enchiladas for 12 at her house in Petaluma, where she’s been providing homecooked meals for evacuees all week.
Her family had signed up on a website called Kincade Dinners, created in four hours on Sunday by software engineer Chase Olivieri. On Monday, 12 evacuees had dinner at strangers’ homes, and on Tuesday there were 50.
It was a way to feel useful when the world seemed upside down, Zimmerman said. Her family planned to host a meal every night this week.
“We’ve been through this before,” she said, referring to the evacuees who stayed in Petaluma during the Tubbs Fire. “We know this lasts about a week and everyone’s lives seem to spin out of control.” And then it’s suddenly over. “Life starts getting back to normal and you look back on it like it was some strange dream,” she said. “This time, we have these really nice memories.”
“We’re happy our home is here waiting for us. We feel so thankful.”
Debbi Tynan, evacuee returning to her Windsor home