Wildfires Expanding in Northern California

Tweet

On Sunday, October 8, 2017, fires began to pop up in the California wine country. There were several wildfires in Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino counties, but initially they seemed controllable. In the four days since those initial fires, the wildfires have expanded rapidly and have now expanded to several more surrounding counties. Firefighters are trying to get nearly two dozen fires under control and, in some areas, they seem to be losing ground. 31 people have been confirmed dead, making this the deadliest week of wildfires in California history. That number is expected to rise as a large number of people have been reported missing. Over 3,500 homes have been totally destroyed. Most of the cell phone towers in the valley have burned down, making communication difficult. Below is what we have learned from our daughter who lives on the north side of Napa, after she spoke on the phone with one of our other daughters, who lives in New York. I have roughly paraphrased below what our New York daughter told us: "So far the fires are not near our Napa daughter, but it is very smokey and ashy where they live. Her husband has been working tirelessly to help people evacuate. Our daughter has been delivering pizza and coffee to the local Napa police, who have been working tirelessly to help direct traffic and answer all the questions people might have. Our daughter and a friend even helped direct traffic to give the officers a small break! Our daughter and granddaughter still have their sense of humor and can tell you all the things that have NOT caused the fire - dragons, witches cauldrons, etc. (It is so good to know they are still able to joke about the situation.) We are all saddened by the many many losses due to the fire. This is still in a state of emergency, so is not over yet, unfortunately." In addition to the message from our daughter, we heard last night from a friend we have been trying to reach for several days. She lives in Santa Rosa, where the fires have been the worse. She evacuated in time and is staying with her adult daughter outside of the fire zone. She does not know if her home has survived. It was a relief to hear from her. I am praying that the situation improves and the loss of life is over. This has been a devastating situation!