z

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 • SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA • PRESSDEMOCRAT.COM

W I N N E R O F T H E 2 0 1 8 P U L I T Z E R P R I Z E

By KEVIN FIXLER, MARTIN ESPINOZA AND WILL SCHMITTTHE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Gray ash rained onto the neighborhoods of northeastern Santa Rosa by daybreak Mon-day, hours after firefighters made an overnight stand against wind-driven wildfire that came suddenly from the east, first as a glow atop the ridge, and then as raging, miles-wide front of flames.

Residents here have been menaced by wildfire before. They evacuated by the thou-sands three times in the past four years. The giant fires of 2017 and 2019 spared them.

This time, however, the firestorm raced into hillside subdivisions, burning scores of

Skyhawk loses scores of homes

UNCONTAINED » 36,236 acres burned in Sonoma, Napa counties

MASS EVACUATION » 68,000 county residents flee; 30,000 on standby

FIREFIGHTING EFFORT » 1,466 fire personnel from state and local agencies

By AUSTIN MURPHYTHE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Susan Cooper stood outside her house on Shady Creek Court in Rincon Valley around 10 p.m. Sun-day, inspecting the sky.

“I saw that cherry glow,” she recalled. Even though her neighborhood was only under an evacuation warning, she remembers thinking, “I should go.”

The Glass fire was advancing swiftly, and Coo-per had last seen that malevolent shade of red three years ago, the night of the Tubbs fire. After conferring with a neighbor, she made the call to

For some, fleeing fire becomes routine

KENT PORTER / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Houses burn on Mountain Hawk Drive in Santa Rosa’s Skyhawk Community as the Glass fire, previously called the Shady fire, rolls in from Napa County on Monday.

113 structures lost in first day as Glass fire batters Santa RosaBy MARY CALLAHAN AND JULIE JOHNSONTHE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Burning a path between wildfire scars that already have left an enduring mark on a traumatized region, the Glass fire cut across the Mayacamas Mountains into

Sonoma County with explosive speed early Mon-day, tearing at the edges of residen-tial neighborhoods and showering the region with ash and chunks of charred debris under a familiar orange-hued sky.

Less than 24 hours after the fast-growing blaze began on

Howell Mountain east of Napa Valley, fire officials believe it threw embers across to the valley’s western side Sunday night, igniting two new branches of wind-driven fire that would need just six hours to travel

about four miles into Santa Rosa, Cal Fire Division Chief Ben Nicholls said.

Merged into the Glass fire, they collec-tively had consumed 36,236 acres as of 5 p.m. Monday and remained wholly uncon-tained. Cal Fire said 113 structures were de-stroyed in Napa and Sonoma counties, and 8,543 structures threatened Monday night.

It was not clear how many of the structures were homes.

More than 68,000 people had been forced to flee homes in east Santa Rosa and unincorporated Sonoma County, city and county officials said. Another 30,000 or

Thousands evacuate as blaze destroys homes

JOHN BURGESS / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Dozens of people park along Rincon Ridge Drive In Fountaingrove at sunrise Monday to watch the northern edge of the Glass fire make its way down to Calistoga Road on Monday morning.

By TYLER SILVY AND KERRY BENEFIELDTHE PRESS DEMOCRAT

It had all the elements of an impending disaster.

Wind-whipped flames bearing down from the east were joined by blazes in An-nadel-Trione State Park to the southwest and fires burning on Melita Road to the north. Together, the fire and the smoke and the chaos threat-ened to hem in the nearly 5,000 residents of the Oakmont Vil-lage senior living community.

As they found their way to Highway 12, thousands of cars jammed the same corri-dor nearly three years to the day from the night the Oct. 8, 2017 wildfires raged in Sono-ma County, leveling more than 5,300 homes.

The Glass fire’s approach, in the dark of night, stirred up the horror of 2017 for many Santa Rosans whose memories of the disaster are never far.

And yet, with fire surround-ing Oakmont on three sides,

Heroic firefight spares Oakmont

ERIK CASTRO/FOR THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Oakmont Gardens residents Doris and Almia Tietze fled the fires in this city bus on Monday.

Advice B11Business A12Classified B3

Comics B10Crossword B11Editorial A11

Legal notices B4 Lotto A2Nation-World B1

Obituaries A5Sports B5State news A10

FACING A TOUGH DECISION: Despite polarized political climate, plenty of voters undecided ahead of first presidential debate / B1

SANTA ROSAHigh 90, Low 52THE WEATHER, B12

©2020 The Press Democrat

INSIDE ■Ash, smoke in skies

fouls weather across North Bay with no relief / A3

■ Shelter space limited for evacuees as thousands flee for their lives / A3

■Napa Valley wineries sustain heavy damage, some destroyed / A3

■ IN PHOTOS: Fire burns through eastern Santa Rosa on Monday / A7

TURN TO OAKMONT » PAGE A2 TURN TO ROUTINE » PAGE A10

TURN TO SKYHAWK » PAGE A6TURN TO GLASS » PAGE A8