EVACUEES MAKE CAUTIOUS RETURNS
Psychological toll: Residents face task of resuming life after fires
The fire-ravaged North Bay on Monday began to confront the long and arduous task of resuming life after the deadliest set of wildfires in state history, as evacuees returned to their neighborhoods, some to intact homes and others to their worst fears.
From a high of more than 100,000 last week in the thick of the fires, the number of residents subject to evacuation orders has now dipped to 40,000, even as some fires still burned and the skies remained stained with lingering smoke.
“We’re cautiously optimistic. The containment percentages are continuing to go up,” Cal Fire incident commander Bret Gouvea said. “It has been our mission, our top priority, to get people back into their homes and back to some normalcy.”
That could get a boost from the announcement that PG&E expected to restore power and gas to the region by late Monday, a key development since authorities said they would not let people return home until it is safe and utilities are restored.
The random cruelty of the fire’s path was on full display Monday. On Londonberry Drive in Santa Rosa, Sarah Kellner called herself one of the lucky
ones: Her home was still standing.
But on the other side of her fence line, dozens of homes were reduced to rubble. One door down, teams of National Guardsmen picked through mountains of debris for bones and other human remains.
“We have a house,” she said with relief, tears welling in her eyes as she thought of her neighbors who do not. “There were a lot of elderly people in that neighborhood. I would just really like to know if they’re safe.”
While holding out hope, officials are convinced that they will find more victims.
“I would expect to find some of the missing in their burned homes,” Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano said. “We have a list of people who have not been found who we think are in their home.”
He said that of the more than 1,000 missing person reports received in the county, about 88 people remained unaccounted for as of Monday afternoon. In Napa County, 19 people are unaccounted for. Giordano added that residents looking to get back to some of the most fire-damaged neighborhoods may have a long wait before authorities set up checkpoints, escorts, and nightly curfews to safely usher them.
“If your house is burned, or in a burned area, (it could be) days or weeks before you can get back in,” he said. “Please be patient.”
Those trying to find out if their home is accessible can utilize an interactive map on the Cal Fire website.
Fires under control
The official combined death toll from the Northern California fires — among them the Tubbs, Pocket, Nuns, Oakmont and Atlas fires — is 41, a tally that now includes the death of a fire worker Monday morning, marking the first fatality in the eightday firefighting effort.
On Oakville Grade in Napa County, a steep roadway about 2 miles west of Highway 29, a contract driver with Cal Fire lost control and went off the roadway around 6:50 a.m., Cal Fire spokesman David Shew said. The site is along the front lines of the Nuns fire.
The rig went down an embankment, turned over and landed on its roof. The California Highway Patrol, which is investigating the fatal crash, said the water tender was empty and that the driver — who is not being identified publicly — was heading downhill for a refill when it rolled over.
Shew declined to comment on whether fatigue from the nonstop firefighting effort contributed to the crash, but said it’s an element fire officials are monitoring closely.
“There has been no break for these firefighters,” he said. “Whether that had anything to do with this particular incident or not is unknown at this time, but certainly this far into major fire activity of this sort, that is certainly a factor we consider.”
Monday morning, Cal Fire reported the most destructive blaze, the Tubbs fire between Santa Rosa and Calistoga, is now 70 percent contained. The Tubbs fire has burned 36,390 acres.
Containment of the Atlas fire burning in Napa and Solano counties improved to 68 percent. The Nuns fire, which destroyed homes early Saturday and forced widespread evacuations near Santa Rosa and the town of Sonoma, has burned 48,627 acres and was up to 50 percent containment on Monday.
All told, more than 200,000 acres of land have burned since the fires erupted the night of Oct. 8. Multiple road closures remain in effect throughout the region.
The multi-state contingent of firefighters, who now number more than 11,000 in the region, hope to have all the wildfires contained by the end of the week, and are also hoping for an assist from a rainstorm forecast for Thursday that could deliver as much as a quarter of an inch of rain to most of the North Bay.
Devastation, relief
Things started to improve on Sunday, as intermittent blue skies returned and evacuations were lifted in parts of Sonoma and Solano counties.
Santa Rosa resident Jennifer Taddei came back to find her home in ruins. It was not a surprise: She had learned of the loss last Tuesday.
“We were prepared for it,” she said. “But it was still pretty devastating to see the damage and to see your possessions in that kind of state.”
Around Calistoga, no count is yet available for the number of homes lost in unincorporated areas outside the city center, but Mayor Chris Canning said he personally knew of at least 12. Most of the city’s 5,200 residents were feeling fortunate to escape the fate of parts of Sonoma, Napa, and Santa Rosa, Canning said.
“We literally dodged a bullet,” Canning said. “We were on the very hairy edge of this thing entering town.”
Mother Tabitha Rivera fled the flames near Calistoga on Thursday with 10 other nuns, four cats, four birds and a rabbit — and returned Monday to the Holy Assumption Eastern Orthodox monastery. The nuns live in a house built in the 1890s, one of nine wooden — and, Rivera noted, highly flammable — buildings on the property, including a small church, decorated throughout with dozens of precious Eastern Orthodox icons from around the world.
“It was wonderful. I actually got down on the ground and kissed the ground because I was so grateful,” said Rivera, 70. “I was really frightened that we would lose this beautiful place. This is where we live. This is where we worship together. I was so grateful that it was still here and it was still intact.”
Boutique owner Carol Bush, who could be seen sweeping fallen ash from the sidewalk in front of her shop Monday, applauded Canning’s work in persuading reluctant residents to leave when fires were approaching. She said she expects business at her boutique will be slow for some time.
“It will be quite a while before people show up,” Bush predicted, adding that October is usually a busy time in Calistoga with visitors flocking to the area for the grape crush.
Sonoma County officials were also preparing for the psychological toll that the fires have taken on residents and are encouraging anyone experiencing mental-health issues to take advantage of county resources, starting with the county website and a crisis hotline at 707-565-6900.
“The shock has worn off, and the sadness and the depression and the overwhelming loss as well as the trauma is beginning to set in,” county supervisor Shirlee Zane said.
That notion resonated strongly with neuropsychologist Rick Olcese, who surveyed the charred remains of his home in the Larkfield neighborhood of Santa Rosa. As someone who provides grief counseling, he reflected on his role reversal, still reeling from the trauma of being torn from his home in the middle of the night with the fire bearing down around him.
“Now, I don’t have just empathy, I have experience.”