The evacuation order came late Sunday evening

Stan Cooper

Stan Cooper

Pattern Altitude
Joined
Aug 29, 2017
Messages
1,908
Location
Santa Rosa, CA
Display Name
Display name:
Stan Cooper
We live in Oakmont, an "active 55-and-older adult community" on the eastern side of Santa Rosa in the Sonoma County wine country. Sunday evening at around 7:00 we received an evacuation warning for our fire zone due to a rapidly expanding wildfire, and at 11:00 the evacuation order for all of Oakmont was issued. We loaded both cars with our "go bags" and left with the other nearly 5,000 residents eastbound away from the flames looking for a hotel vacancy, and finally checked into a Best Western in Novato, a city in Marin County just south of Sonoma County. The hotel waived the "no pets" policy because of the fire emergency, so we're sharing our room with our golden retriever.

Yesterday's Santa Rosa Press Democrat had a good article about the firefighters heroic effort to save the homes in Oakmont, and we lost only three structures: a triplex and two single family homes. Based on that article we're pretty sure our home survived untouched, but it will probably be several days before the authorities make sure all the hotspots are extinguished and electric power/natural gas facilities are safely restored and we're allowed to return home.

The newspaper article is here:

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/artic...rosas-oakmont-retirement-community-from-deva/

We're thankful for the herculean efforts of the firefighters to save our community.

Whew!
 
My brother is in Santa Rosa and sent pics. It's like 2017 all over again.
 
Eventually its gonna burn every shrub in that area:

Glass.jpg

Black Arrow points to Oakmont area.
 
I hope your home is ok, but certainly good that you are ok.
 
TFRs map for California (WingX, FF or whatever) is scary.
 
I have friends in StHelena who are up visiting family in Washington and left prior to this being bad. They're not sure what they're going to come home to.
 
Stan,

I'm glad your family is safe. What an ordeal to experience.

My bride and I watch this on the news and just can't imagine the stress levels of leaving everything behind. I know priority one is to save what's most important, your life. Everything else is just stuff. The "go bag" is a common thing out your way, and I get it. Our friend in LA has explained the go bag when it comes to earthquakes, he is always ready on a moments notice. I guess that's something us east coasters don't always comprehend.

Thanks to the first responders, fire, police, and those involved that put it all on the line everyday.
 
Thanks all. The news is encouraging and we're looking forward to returning home. We have a neighborhood email list and everybody seems to have evacuated safely and we're all just waiting for the authorities to lift the evacuation order. Skyhawk is a neighboring development that got hammered Sunday night and Monday morning with the loss of several homes, and the evacuation order there was downgraded to evacuation warning yesterday so residents can return but have to be ready to evacuate again if conditions change; the Glass Fire is still largely uncontained and shifting winds could bring it back.

There is definitely "fire fatigue" around here after disastrous wildfires in 2017, 2018, 2019, and this year.
 
I spent Tuesday in St. Helena doing emergency water system engineering assessments. The fire damage in the hills was incredible.
 
This is a stock image of the Meadowood Resort in St. Helena.120278262_10159060868724658_3515920500497943373_o.jpg

This is what it looks like now. I took this picture on Tuesday.IMG_4879_small.jpg
 
I have heard all the grapes are ruined from the smoke which will lead to wine shortages and increased prices.
 
FORANE said:
I have heard all the grapes are ruined from the smoke which will lead to wine shortages and increased prices.
Click to expand...

Yeah I don't know. Actually the Napa/Sonoma valleys are not the major producers of wine grapes in California. The Central Valley vineyards are the big ones, and they are not as affected by smoke as far as I can tell. Maybe some of the higher end wines will be more expensive. But the fact of the matter is that there have been other things that have affected the Napa region vineyards worse, with respect to grapes. It was about ten or fifteen years ago a grape disease all but wiped out most grapes in the area, but they seemed to have weathered through it.
 
Can't imagine what you're having to go through Stan ... hang in there:(
 
Best of luck to you. The fires in 2017 burned an area where we had looked at land back in the late 1970s when I worked for the Navy at MINSY (actually, a tenant activity on the yard). I'm sure that area burned completely. Not fun. I'm also watching the fire in northern California as my great grandfather had a home (long since sold) in Happy Camp, along the Klamath River. Much of the town burned in this fire, but it looks like what had been his home was spared. He built the first saw mill in Happy Camp after WW II.
 
We just got this text from the Santa Rosa Police Department:

In coordination with CAL FIRE and the Santa Rosa Fire Department, the Santa Rosa Police Department has downgraded SOME evacuation orders to evacuation warnings. Residents outside of the burned areas in the following zones may re-enter and return at this time:
  • Oakmont South
  • Oakmont North
  • With the exception of White Oak Dr. east of Fairfield Dr.
Click to expand...
We've already paid for our hotel room for tonight, so we'll wait until daylight tomorrow to drive home. Besides, we want to watch the 49ers beat the Eagles tonight on TV.
:thumbsup:
 
Last edited:
I live in Santa Rosa too- Stan and I should meet some day.

Sadly, I lost my house and all my belongings in the 2017 Tubbs Fire.

Well... actually not ALL of my belongings.

Let’s see... I had lent a guitar amp to a friend — that survived the fire. I had some photos at work- those survived the fire.

And most importantly—I had a plane in a hangar at STS. That survived too. Same plane I flew back from the Piper factory in Vero Beach Florida in 1976.

Here is my song and video about that night. The 3 year anniversary is coming up this week.

 
RIlls said:
I live in Santa Rosa too- Stan and I should meet some day.

Sadly, I lost my house and all my belongings in the 2017 Tubbs Fire.

Well... actually not ALL of my belongings.

Let’s see... I had lent a guitar amp to a friend — that survived the fire. I had some photos at work- those survived the fire.

And most importantly—I had a plane in a hangar at STS. That survived too. Same plane I flew back from the Piper factory in Vero Beach Florida in 1976.

Here is my song and video about that night. The 3 year anniversary is coming up this week.

Click to expand...

Haunting.

Glad you and your people are ok.
 
RIlls said:
I live in Santa Rosa too- Stan and I should meet some day.

Sadly, I lost my house and all my belongings in the 2017 Tubbs Fire.

Well... actually not ALL of my belongings.

Let’s see... I had lent a guitar amp to a friend — that survived the fire. I had some photos at work- those survived the fire.

And most importantly—I had a plane in a hangar at STS. That survived too. Same plane I flew back from the Piper factory in Vero Beach Florida in 1976.

Here is my song and video about that night. The 3 year anniversary is coming up this week.
Click to expand...
I am very sorry for your loss; I know it has been a rough ride for the past four years. We moved to Santa Rosa from San Francisco in February, 2019, and went through the fires and power outages last fall, but never had to evacuate. When I went to North Coast Air for my flight review last November, Rob (the owner) had just lost his home in the Kincade fire and was living in an RV parked near STS.

When we evacuated a week ago I imagined what it would be like to lose everything, and just the thought was devastating. I'm beginning to think my STS hangar would be a relatively safer place to keep a few irreplaceable things I have - mostly of sentimental value - instead of keeping them at home. One of my high priority tasks when I get home today is to identify those items.
 
The ironic thing is the Tour de Fuzz, an annual cycling event held in Santa Rosa, was cancelled this year due to corona virus. Had it not been cancelled, it still would not have been able to run due to the fires.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top