It’s been a very odd month. Between the earthquake, power outages and now the wide-spread wildfires; we are all on high alert. The feeling of unpreparedness was really evident when we had a fire right in our city. We now have a packed bag, food, and water at the ready. Below are the events that happened since the Kincade fire started and some resources in case this happens again.
This past Saturday evening CAL FIRE started to evacuate large swaths of Sonoma County. We called to check in on our friends that live in that area. They decided to hold off on evacuating (they were right outside the evac zone) for the evening. In the early morning hours, they started to evacuate. The fires were getting worse and the very high winds were not helping. They arrived at our home to seek refuge from the smoke and fires.
After a couple of hours of chatting, catching up and making sure everyone was okay, we got an alert that a large tree had fallen downtown on farmer’s market attendees; shortly after we heard that the fire in Vallejo had jumped the Carquinez Straight and was in Crockett, causing evacuations there. It was at that point that we had decided to evacuate our home. When we arrived at my mother-in-law’s home we saw a tree crash down on the street, causing a power pole to become loose; PG&E was quickly called out. Shortly after that, we heard that there was a fire within miles of our home. We spent the rest of the day at my mother-in-laws and ended up staying on a blow-up mattress. Even though we didn’t need to stay, it calmed my anxiety to be near family and friends.
Since then, all of our evacuated friends got to go home and there’s an air of concern everywhere you go. The phrase of the day has been “are you guys all ok?”. It’s amazing how this community gathers around each other. We’re all heartbroken about the families that sustained injuries because of the fallen tree and those that have lost so much because of the fires. There is another wind event that will sweep our area in the next couple of days, so we’re preparing for that as well.
While I was researching an evacuation center for our Airbnb guest I found a great website, check it out HERE
Stay safe out there friends.
