Reporting from Santa Rosa, Calif. — After the fires had roared through, Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano drove through the wreckage of Santa Rosa’s Larkfield-Wikiup neighborhood.
Twisted beams and garage doors crumpled like old newspapers had replaced street after street of tidy homes. The hubcaps from charred cars had melted into rivulets of gleaming aluminum that pooled in the gutters.
“I don’t even think I understand what the damage toll is going to be, and I have a better handle on it than most,” Giordano told The Times on Friday. “Santa Rosa will be a different planet. There is so much to rebuild. It will absolutely change the community.”
Thousands of other Santa Rosa residents also struggled Friday to come to grips with the magnitude of their losses from a firestorm — among the state’s most devastating — that has coursed through California wine country since Sunday night, causing at least 34 deaths and damaging thousands of buildings.
More than half of the confirmed fatalities came in Sonoma County. Santa Rosa, the county’s largest city and home to 175,000 people, lost almost 3,000 buildings, including the hilltop house of the late Charles Schulz, the Peanuts cartoon creator.
The Charles M. Schulz Museum, perhaps the city’s leading landmark, still stood, but two hotels — the 124-room luxury Fountaingrove Inn and the 250-room Hilton Sonoma Wine Country on 13 acres — were destroyed. Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Coursey on Friday said that the city had sustained $1.2 billion in damage and that 5% of the housing stock was wiped out.
Santa Rosa started to come back to life early Friday, and some residents may be allowed to return home Saturday or Sunday, officials said.
But the threat of new damage from the far-from-controlled fire complex still hung over the region. Firefighters scrambled Friday to dig fire lines and bulldoze debris to gain an advantage over the blazes before the gusts that fanned the flames reached expected speeds of up to 40 mph later in the day along the ridges.
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office on Friday issued a mandatory evacuation north of Highway 128 from Geysers to Chalk Hill roads. Immigration officials suspended most enforcement in the Northern California fire areas, authorities said Friday, and Gov. Jerry Brown announced that the White House had agreed to send direct aid to those affected by the disaster.
Adding to Santa Rosa residents’ maelstrom of emotions was their shock that wildfire, which more commonly burns through ridges and valleys of oak brush, had swept into the neat suburban tracts miles away.
The once-placid Coffey Park neighborhood, where at least two people died, turned into a hellscape of ash and fallen timber, punctuated by the turquoise square of a swimming pool.
“We have always thought about earthquakes, and we are prepared for an earthquake,” said Luis Hernandez, a 10-year Coffey Park resident whose house was destroyed in the early morning hours Monday. “But we never thought about a fire. This caught us very off guard.”
Nearly everyone in Santa Rosa lost a home or knows someone who did — or worse. Thirty of one Santa Rosa synagogue’s 460 families found their houses destroyed, and a former president of the synagogue died, the rabbi said.
At a downtown motel where evacuees had taken refuge, David Joslyn ran into a young woman in sweatpants carrying a cat.
“How’re you doing?” he asked.
“My house burned down, so it’s kind of sad,” she said.
“Coffey Park?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said, with a pained look on her face.
RELATED: What causes the powerful, dry winds that are fanning the flames in Napa and Sonoma counties »
Joslyn’s own house on a ridge on Mark West Springs Road at the northern end of the city — “our extravagance” — is presumed gone, he said. Joslyn, a special-education teacher, and his wife, Sara, a psychologist, loved the private, remote feel of the house, with its 360-degree views of trees and its open living area, where their two sons did their homework and played while Joslyn cooked or did “dad stuff” in the office.
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An inmate firefighter monitors flames as a house burns in the Napa wine region.
(Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 2/59
Flames ravage a home in the Napa wine region in California.
(Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 3/59
A firefighter walks near a pool as a neighboring home burns in the Napa wine region.
(Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 4/59
Firefighters douse flames as a home burns in the Napa wine region, as multiple wind-driven fires whip through the region.
(Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 5/59
Louis Reavis views the burned remains of his classic Oldsmobile at his home in Napa.
(Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 6/59
A tent structure built for the 2017 Safeway Open burns in Napa on Monday.
(Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 7/59
The Estancia Apartment Homes on Old Redwood Hwy. were completely destroyed in Santa Rosa.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 8/59
A resident rushes to save his home as a wildfire moves through Glen Ellen, Calif. Tens of thousands of acres and dozens of homes and businesses have burned in wildfires in Napa and Sonoma counties.
(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images) 9/59
A Fountaingrove Village man surveys the rubble of his home in Santa Rosa.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 10/59
Downed power poles and lines block a street in Hidden Valley.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times ) 11/59
A fcar burns in the driveway of a destroyed home in Fountaingrove Village.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 12/59
A wheelchair left abandoned at the evacuated Villa Capri assisted living facility on Fountaingrove Parkway in Santa Rosa.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times ) 13/59
A resident rushes to save his home as fire moves through the area in Glen Ellen, California.
(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images) 14/59
A San Jose firefighter keep flames down at a home in Hidden Valley.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 15/59
A Fountaingrove Village couple takes in the ruins of their home after fire ripped through the neighborhood.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 16/59
A home destroyed in the fast moving wildfire that ripped through Glen Ellen.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 17/59
A swimming pool reflects the damage caused by the wildfires that moved through neighborhoods near Glen Ellen.
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Benicia Police Officer Alejandro Maravilla, left, offers resident Gwen Adkins, 84, a soda while patrolling in the Coffey Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 19/59
Spencer Blackwell, left, and Danielle Tate find Tate’s father’s gun collection, melted and burned, inside a gun safe at her father’s home in the Coffey Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa.
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An American flag is draped on a burned pickup truck on Camino del Prado in the Coffey Park neighborhood in Santa Rosa.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times ) 21/59
Scorched wine barrels at the Paradise Ridge Winery in Santa Rosa after the wildfire burned through.
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Fire lights up the night sky framed by a vineyard near Kenwood.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 23/59
Oakland police officers knock on doors as residents of the Rancho de Calistoga mobile home park are told to evacuate in Calistoga.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 24/59
An aerial view of the Coffey Park neighborhood detroyed by wildfire in Santa Rosa.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) 25/59
Contra Costa paramedics help Bill Parras, 96, evacuate his home in Calistoga.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times ) 26/59
CHP officers study neighborhood maps before going door to door to tell Sonoma residents to voluntarily evacuate ahead of the wildfire.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 27/59
A home perched on top of a hill sits in the foreground of a fire moving up on Shiloh Ridge near Santa Rosa.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) 28/59
Scorched grapes and vines along the edge of Storybook Mountain Vineyards in Calistoga.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 29/59
John and Jan Pascoe survived the firestorm by running out of their home and into their neighbors’ swimming pool in Santa Rosa.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 30/59
Hundreds of burned wine bottles at the destroyed Helena View Johnston Vineyards near Calistoga.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 31/59
A Contra Costa County firefighter breaks a wall with an ax as his crew battles flames inside a home along Highway 29 north of Calistoga on Oct. 12.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 32/59
Atascadero Firefighters try to control flames burning inside a home along Highway 29 in Calistoga on Oct. 12.
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Contra Costa firefighters work to put out flames burning inside a home along Highway 29 north of Calistoga on Oct. 12.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 34/59
Search teams sift through the debris of mobile homes at the Journey’s End Mobile Home Park in Santa Rosa.
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A worker pulls out a firearm from the burned wreckage as search team members look through the debris at the Journey’s End Mobile Home Park in Santa Rosa.
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Search team members sift through debris at the Journey’s End Mobile Home Park in Santa Rosa.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 37/59
Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Coursey surveys the damage to the Coffey Park neighborhood.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times ) 38/59
Melted metal is seen on a car in the shadow of a destroyed home in Napa.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 39/59
Lola Cornish, 50, and her daughter Kat Corazza, 18, look over recovered family jewels that survived the fire at Cornish’s grandfather’s home in Napa.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 40/59
Some residents were allowed to return to their properties Friday in a neighborhood in Napa that was ravaged by the Atlas fire.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 41/59
A helicopter prepares to drop water on a fire that threatens the Oakmont community along Highway 12 in Santa Rosa.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 42/59
A helicopter drops water on a fire that threatens the Ledson Winery and Historic Castle Vineyards in Kenwood on Friday.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 43/59
Manuel Mendoza sorts through donated clothing at the Bridge Church in Santa Rosa on Sunday.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 44/59
Jean Schettler hugs Father Moses Brown after Mass at St. Rose Church on Sunday. Schettler’s daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren, after losing their house in the fires, have moved into the Santa Rosa home of Jean and Jim Schettler.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 45/59
Gianna Gathman, 18, hugs her grandfather Jim Schettler during Mass at St. Rose Church in Santa Rosa on Sunday. Gathman’s family lost their home in the Fountaingrove neighborhood to the fire. They are now living with the Schettlers.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 46/59
Kimberly Flinn holds onto the only item that wasn’t lost in a fire that destroyed her home in the Mark West Springs area in Santa Rosa. Flynn recovered a ceramic white butterfly that she had made in memory of a boy she used to babysit and was killed in a hit and run accident.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 47/59
Gerry Miller, 81, tells San Francisco Police Department Officer Gary Loo how grateful she is to find her home still standing. Residents were allowed to return to their homes in the Mark West Springs area in Santa Rosa Sunday night.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 48/59
Denise Finitz, 61, thanks Torrance Fire Department firefighters Keith Picket, right, and Capt. Mike Salcido on Oct. 16 after they helped her find her mother’s wedding ring in the ashes of her home, destroyed by wildfires on Carriage Lane in Wikiup.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 49/59
A search and rescue crew member gives a cadaver dog some water during the hunt for a possible fire victim in the Mark West Springs area of Santa Rosa on Oct. 15.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 50/59
Burned cars like this vintage Volkswagen litter the landscape in Coffey Park. The neighborhood was completely destroyed by the Tubbs fire 11 days ago, with many residents fleeing in haste as their homes were enveloped in flames.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 51/59
A giraffe framed in the smoke filled air at the Safari West preserve.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 52/59
A Watusi bull looks out through the haze of the recent Tubbs fire at the Safari West preserve.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 53/59
Peter Lang, 77, owner of the Safari West preserve, stands between a pair of white rhinos against a backdrop of charred hillside in Santa Rosa.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 54/59
Mark Sharp, a resident of Coffey Park, sifts through the remains of his charred home in search of his wife’s wedding band.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 55/59
Flowers were left on the mailbox of Roy Howard Bowman, 87, and his wife, Irma Elsie Bowman, 88 who died at their Fisher Lake Drive home from the Redwood Valley fire.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 56/59
Dee Pallesen, left, and her daughter Emily Learn console each as they look over Pallesen’s home, destroyed by the Redwood Valley fire.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 57/59
Jason Miller plants an American flag on the charred remains of his house as residents of Coffey Park return home.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 58/59
Burned vehicles litter the landscape in Coffey Park. The neighborhood was completely destroyed by the Tubbs fire 11 days ago, with many residents fleeing in haste as their homes were enveloped in flames.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 59/59
A pickup truck rests beside a row of charred trees in the Coffey Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) The deck — bigger than the Joslyns’ entire former house — was full of memories of family barbecues. Every day, sometimes twice daily, the family walked their dogs to the nearby clearing at the top of a dirt road.
Authorities on Friday added several names to the list of those who died in the fire. Many of them were elderly — the average age was 79. Some died alone. But family members also died together.
In Mendocino County, Roy Howard Bowman, 87, and his wife, Irma Elsie Bowman, 88, were found dead in their Redwood Valley home, the Sheriff’s Office said. The structure was decimated.
Kai Logan Shepherd, 14, was trying to escape the fire when he was “overtaken by flames” near his family’s Redwood Valley home, authorities said.
The Redwood Valley and Potter fires in Mendocino County had burned 34,000 acres and were 10% contained as of Friday, according to Cal Fire. Eight people had died and about 8,000 people had been evacuated there.
Joslyn isn’t sure if they will rebuild on their land, or when. “It’s up to my wife,” he said. “She was thinking maybe not [because] she can’t deal with the emotion of it.”
But Zack Browne, who lives in Santa Rosa with his wife and two cats, expects people will rebuild. Their house is fine, but his in-laws’ place was destroyed.
“That’s home to them,” he said.
Agrawal and Nelson reported from Santa Rosa, Kohli and Holland from Los Angeles. Times staff writers Chris Megerian in Santa Rosa, Paige St. John in Napa County and Dakota Smith, Javier Panzar, Benjamin Oreskes and Kate Mather in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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