For Many Northern California Wildfire Survivors, Kincade Fire Brings Back Trauma

Adia White, KRCB, and Sarah Bohannon, NSPR

As the Kincade Fire continues to burn in Sonoma County, many in the state are reliving the nightmare of wildfires they survived in the past.

For Sonoma County Supervisor Susan Gorin, watching the Kincade Fire brings back trauma and anxiety she hoped to never endure again. She lost her home in Oakmont during the 2017 Tubbs Fire. As of Tuesday morning, mandatory evacuations are in place just blocks away from where she lost that home.

It absolutely brings me back two years ago, the same kind of emotions, the same smoke hanging in the air, the same catch in the throat," Gorin says. "I met a fire survivor today. We both hugged each-other and sobbed. "

Even those who didn’t lose homes in the 2017 fires are reminded of that time. Aaron Arnest evacuated with his family from Windsor on Saturday. They went to stay with friends in nearby Sebastopol, only to have to evacuate again just after midnight.

"It feels [like I] got a little PTSD from it,"  Arnest says of having another major fire so near. "We were in Windsor at the time but had a lot of family up in Mark West that had to evacuate. It was pretty surreal. We felt kind of the same feeling that night in 2017."

Watching fire strike the North Bay also has those who experienced last fall’s Camp Fire on edge. It hasn’t even been a full year, and the Kincade Fire ignited in a way that feels all too familiar. 

Tami Donnelson — who lost her home in Concow, near Paradise — recalls people spending the three days before the Camp Fire getting ready for a planned outage. 

“These aren’t people that stopped at Costco on their way home to get a big pack of batteries," she says. "These are people that took the last of their grocery money and paid 12 bucks for a couple of batteries at the only market up there. These people put gas in their generators, if they had them, instead of their cars.” 

Now, she’s watching the Kincade Fire while enduring another PG&E blackout.

“When our power’s off we don’t have running water in Concow," Donnelson said. "I only know of a few people who have solar well. Fires start for all kinds of reasons and we couldn’t put one out up there. It’s very scary. We feel like sitting ducks.” 

Jenny Lowrey, also a Concow resident, echoed that statement. She says it’s difficult for Camp Fire survivors to recover when they’re being triggered by power outages and what’s happening south of them. 

“People are barely functioning. They’re smelling smoke from these other fires. Nobody’s sleeping," Lowrey says. "It’s terrifying to live up there right now because the what-if factor. Every little thing. 'Should I pack, should I go? Oh, should I have my stuff in the car?' ”

Lowrey says for those living the experience, PG&E’s power shut offs aren’t working. 

“I don’t understand," she says. "They have to do better. There has to be a better solution.” 

Back in Sonoma County, Supervisor Susan Gorin is struggling to understand too.

"I’m not happy that I was a fire survivor, and I have not rebuilt yet," she says. "I hope to rebuild next year and now here we have it again. And part of me says, 'Why Sonoma County? Why is this happening to us again?'"

This story was produced as part of a collaboration between North State Public Radio and KRCB. Find more reporting on the Kincade Fire or to listen to their series commemorating the anniversaries of the 2017 Tubbs Fire and the 2018 Camp Fire here.