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wildfire

Model home on display in Wine Country built for wildfire country

in Community

SANTA ROSA — October 8 marked the fifth anniversary of the wildfire that devastated parts of Santa Rosa. For many homeowners, the rebuilding process has gotten off to a slow start. Now a company is showing off a model home that promises to reduce construction time while reducing the impact of future wildfires in the area.

On Sunday, the sign on the street listed the fire hazard as “low,” meaning to some that the impact of wildfires can be “out of sight, out of mind.” Five years after the deadly Tubbs fire, those still rebuilding their homes in the Fountaingrove area are well aware of the situation.

“Where we are in Santa Rosa burned down with the 2017 fire, so just being able to rebuild fast enough is a big part of this as we go forward,” says Kellan Hannah, director of growth and development for a modular construction company called Dvele.

Continue Reading on MSN

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For the City of Santa Rosa, wildfire season is over

in Wildfire

On Monday, Santa Rosa Fire Department officials declared an end to the five-month 2022 wildfire season.

The department announced that, “While conditions around the region and state vary, locally, Santa Rosa has received enough beneficial rainfall, with more forecasted this week, to significantly reduce the threat of fires in the community.”

Continue Reading on KALW

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in Weather/Wildfire

Laura Hinerfeld and her husband, Dale Geist, never thought they’d leave California. But after the Complex fires of 2017 killed 24 people, ravaged 7,000 structures and crept too close to their house in Sonoma, they talked about it for the first time.

Then came the amalgamation of other disasters, signaling to Hinerfeld and Geist that it’s time to go. The 100-degree heat. The rolling blackouts. The weeks of horrible air quality. The pandemic. How do you re-create the camaraderie of a ceramics workshop on Zoom or the gargantuan meals they like to feast on at El Molino Central, their beloved tortilleria? It’s decided: You don’t.

New England is the obvious choice for a second start. Life there may not be as enchanting as in California, but they’d rather have to gear up for rising sea levels than wildfires. Plus, this is where both Hinerfeld and Geist spent their early years.

Continue Reading on Deseret News

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Counting the hidden costs of North Bay, California wildfires on businesses, residents

in News

Wildfires are burning a hole in California’s wallet — and not just state government’s.

With no place in California immune to the increasing, raging infernos that barrel over communities, fires touch industry and peoples’ pocketbooks in dozens of ways, from insurance and tourism losses to home hardening and fire prevention costs.

First, there’s the obvious. Fire suppression costs for the state thus far this fiscal year have reached $1.3 billion in the 2021 fiscal year, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reported this week. That’s more than $30 for every resident in the state.

Continue Reading on The North Bay Business Journal

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Laura Hinerfeld and her husband, Dale Geist, never thought they’d leave California. But after the Complex fires of 2017 killed

Wildfires Can Cause Mental Health Damage That Smolders Years After the Flames Go Out

in News

Wildfires Can Cause Mental Health Damage That Smolders Years After the Flames Go Out

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 11, 2021 (American Heart Association News) — Melissa Geissinger didn’t believe she was in danger. But when the cat at the foot of her bed lifted its head to sniff the air, she felt her first stab of worry. She stepped outside her home in Santa Rosa, California, and there it was: the choking smell of smoke.

Then came the phone alert – the wildfires she thought too far away had jumped the highway and were heading straight toward her. Seven months pregnant, she grabbed both her cats, her two dogs and a few belongings and fled with her husband, blowing the car horn to alert the neighbors.

It’s been nearly four years since the Tubbs wildfire – one of the most destructive in California’s history – obliterated Geissinger’s neighborhood, along with more than 36,000 acres of wine country. In the months that followed, she had severe anxiety and panic attacks, waking in the middle of the night with chills. She sought counseling, but she continues to have anxiety from seemingly endless reports of fires that return each year.

Continue Reading on US NEWS

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Mowed Grass Helps Slow Spread Of Fire Near Joe Rodota Trail: SRFD

in Uncategorized

SANTA ROSA, CA — Mowed grass significantly helped slow the spread of a grass fire Wednesday afternoon near the Joe Rodota Trail in west Santa Rosa, the Santa Rosa Fire Department said.

Around 1:45 p.m., the fire department got several calls about the blaze west of Llano Road and when the first unit got to the scene, 2 acres of mowed grass was burning south of the trail on Santa Rosa Water Agency Property, SRFD Division Chief Steve Suter said.

Continue Reading on Patch

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Laura Hinerfeld and her husband, Dale Geist, never thought they’d leave California. But after the Complex fires of 2017 killed

Wildfire Season: Santa Rosa Declares Very Early Start For Fire Season

in News

SANTA ROSA (CBS SF) — The Santa Rosa Fire Department plans to officially declare the start of the area’s wildfire season on May 17 — significantly earlier than previous years.

Severe drought conditions and several Red Flag Warnings in recent days guided the department’s decision. Now the department will reach out to residents about removing fuel for wildfires off their properties and preparing for possible blazes.

Continue Reading on CBS SF BayArea

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Laura Hinerfeld and her husband, Dale Geist, never thought they’d leave California. But after the Complex fires of 2017 killed

California County Uses AI Against Fires

in Housing

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Sonoma County officials say they will add artificial intelligence technology to help fight wildfires with a 24-7 monitor to track fire outbreaks.

The technology will be added to the county’s network of wildfire detection cameras that monitor California’s backcountry to spot the first outbreak of flames. Many of the cameras are affixed to existing radio communication towers.

“This early detection technology will provide emergency managers and first responders with round-the-clock monitoring, a sophisticated addition we are excited to add to our alert and warning toolkit,” Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Chair Lynda Hopkins said.

Sonoma County, in the heart of Northern California’s wine country, has been hit hard by devastating wildfires in recent years. In 2017, a blaze caused thousands of people to flee, destroyed more than 5,000 homes, wiped out whole residential blocks in the city of Santa Rosa and killed 24 people.

The system will send a text or email to emergency crews when a possible fire is spotted, and the responding agency would then confirm whether a fire has started.

Continue Reading on Manufacturing.net

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Laura Hinerfeld and her husband, Dale Geist, never thought they’d leave California. But after the Complex fires of 2017 killed

Charred homes and crumbled walls: tallying the destruction of a California wildfire

in People

Smoke mixed with morning mist on Mountain Hawk Drive in Santa Rosa, California, on Wednesday morning, creating a thick layer of gray that hung over the smoldering remains of family homes that had been charred by the Glass fire days before.

The fast-moving fire had arrived in the neighborhood on Monday night, consuming roughly an acre every five seconds and leveling many of the hillside homes. Now, remnants of lives lived lined the street. Melted squirt guns left on burned patio tables. A charred piano underneath askew picture frames. Homegrown apples on a singed tree were cooked on the vine.

Continue Reading on The Guardian

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Laura Hinerfeld and her husband, Dale Geist, never thought they’d leave California. But after the Complex fires of 2017 killed

California’s wine country residents facing fire fatigue

in News

NAPA, Calif. (AP) — Will Abrams and his family packed their pickup truck with laptops, clothes, sleeping bags and a tent and quickly left their rental home in California’s wine country after seeing flames on a hill about a quarter-mile away Monday morning. It was their third hurried fire evacuation in as many years.

In 2017, Abrams woke up to find their Santa Rosa home on fire and cleared burning branches from the driveway so he could get his wife and children to safety. Their home was destroyed. Then last year, the family evacuated as another wildfire bore down on Sonoma County. They were terrified to cross into the San Francisco Bay Area amid smaller grassland fires sparked by power lines falling in the midst of strong, hot winds.

Continue Reading on AP News

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Laura Hinerfeld and her husband, Dale Geist, never thought they’d leave California. But after the Complex fires of 2017 killed

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