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Artstart’s ex-leader has legacy that’s officials look to redraw district

visible throughout Santa Rosa. D1 maps to ensure fairer voting. A3

FINANCIAL PEACE OF MIND » Expert

advice for investors on weathering
turbulent period with stocks. E1

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2018 • SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA • PRESSDEMOCRAT.COM

No 911 protocol for firestorm

OCTOBER WILDFIRES » Inundated dispatchers not “What can we do?” the wom-
an pushed, the urgency in her
dispatchers were unprepared
and understaffed for the un-
been trained on how to coach
people trapped by wildfires, par-
trained for disaster of that scale, had to improvise voice clear. “There’s a house up precedented disaster, with few ticularly ones as large, numer-
higher …” answers to give the hundreds of ous and unpredictable as those
By JULIE JOHNSON route out on narrow Nuns Can- The dispatcher interrupted people calling their Santa Rosa in the October firestorm that
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT yon Road. and said she had to put her on headquarters in the chaotic first killed 24 people in Sonoma Coun-
She called 911 — “I feel like hold. hours, according to records of ty and destroyed 5,130 homes.
The woman was desperate to we’re trapped on Nuns Canyon Six massive fires and a the calls and interviews with top The international accreditation
get down the hill with her two here so I’m, I’m just fearing for half-dozen smaller blazes emergency officials. organization that provides the
children and her father, still my family,” the woman said. erupted that night of Oct. 8 and Many of the callers were ter- training materials for dispatch-
weak after open-heart surgery, The dispatcher was sympa- burned simultaneously out of rified, like the woman recorded ers had no protocol for that type
before the wildfire burned her thetic but had no advice to give. control across Sonoma, Napa, in the call from Nuns Canyon of life-or-death scenario.
family’s home in the Sonoma Dozens of other 911 calls were Mendocino and Lake counties. Road.
Valley. Flames blocked their one coming in. Yet Sonoma County emergency But the dispatchers had not TURN TO DISPATCHERS » PAGE A14

Trump “We’re looking at every kind of possible reduction. This is a great

opportunity to retool what you’re doing and become more efficient.”
tellingly
Budget gaps squeeze
DAVID ALEXANDER, superintendent of Piner-Olivet Union School District in Santa Rosa

silent on
Russia
ANALYSIS » President
sends message by not
denouncing meddling
By PETER BAKER
county school districts
NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON — After more

than a dozen Russians and three
companies were indicted Fri-
day for interfering in the 2016
elections, President Donald
Trump’s first reaction was to
claim person-
al vindication:
“The Trump
campaign did
nothing wrong
— no collu-
sion!” he wrote
on Twitter.
He voiced no
concern that a
Donald
foreign power
Trump
had been try-
INSIDE ing for nearly
four years to
■ When it came
upend U.S. de-
to creating rifts,
mocracy, much
Russians liked
less resolve to
Facebook / B1
stop it from
continuing to do so this year.
The indictment secured by the
special counsel, Robert Muel-
ler, underscored the broader
conclusion by the U.S. govern-
ment that Russia is engaged in
a virtual war against the United
PHOTOS BY JOHN BURGESS / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
TURN TO ANALYSIS » PAGE A2
EDUCATORS IN LIMBO: Teacher Jolene Johnson, center, leads students through a dance routine for a show during a class at El Molino High School in Sebastopol.
Facing a $1.2 million budget shortfall, West Sonoma County Union High School District may eliminate dance and woodworking classes at the Forestville school.

SANDY HOOK LESSONS

Fewer students,
Using state higher costs mean
laws to curb program cuts and
gun violence staff reductions
By LISA W. FODERARO By ELOÍSA RUANO GONZÁLEZ

AND KRISTIN HUSSEY
NEW YORK TIMES
In the aftermath of the ram-
page at Sandy Hook Elementary
School in Newtown, Connecti-
cut, where 20 children and six
educators were killed in 2012,
state lawmakers set out to draft
some of the toughest gun mea-
sures in the country.
They largely succeeded — sig-
nificantly expanding an exist-
ing ban on the sale of assault
weapons, prohibiting the sale
of magazines with more than 10
rounds and requiring the regis-
tration of existing assault rifles
and higher-capacity magazines.
The state also required back-
ground checks for all firearms
sales and created a registry of
weapons offenders, including
TURN TO GUNS » PAGE A12
J
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
olene Johnson uses ballet, hip-
hop, jazz and modern dance to
teach students about creativity,
teamwork and perseverance.
But two of her three dance classes
now face the budget ax at El Molino
High School. If they are eliminated,
leaving Johnson with a part-time job,
the dance teacher would be forced to
leave the Forestville campus.
“I couldn’t stay there,” Johnson
said. “I couldn’t afford to live where
I am, in Sonoma County, with only
60 percent of my income.”
El Molino and Analy high schools felt in districts across Sonoma costs for employee health care and HONING
could lose more than three dozen County. pensions, district officials say they’ll HIS CRAFT: Jordan
class offerings and their seven-peri- Despite a growing economy and have to cut staff, increase class sizes Pennington carves
od school days as the West Sonoma Gov. Jerry Brown’s pledge to pro- and scale back course offerings to a wooden spoon
County Union High School District vide an additional $3 billion to K-12 close the budget gaps. during a woodshop
seeks to close a $1.2 million budget schools for the coming year, Sonoma School trustees across the county class, which could
shortfall. County school districts are bracing are already making the tough calls be cut, at El Molino
The financial challenges squeez- for millions in spending cuts. Facing High School.
ing the Sebastopol district are being declining enrollment and ballooning TURN TO SCHOOL » PAGE A14

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Democrat
Classified E4 Forum B11 Movies D6 Smith A3 Golden State needs to do ahead of playoffs / A3 THE WEATHER, C8
A14 THE PRESS DEMOCRAT • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2018

SCHOOL
CONTINUED FROM A1
on layoffs, facing a mid-March
deadline to notify affected teach-
ers and staff.
Santa Rosa City Schools, the
county’s largest district, needs
to trim $6.2 million, or about
3 percent of its operating budget.
In Sonoma Valley, school board
members recently approved
$2.4 million in spending cuts for
next year.
Santa Rosa school district
officials last week presented to
school board members more
than two dozen recommenda-
tions from the budget advisory
committee for spending cuts,
totaling $7.6 million. They
included slightly boosting the
student-teacher ratio, elimi-
nating the need for 27 teachers
and saving the district about
$2.3 million.
Teachers argued the measure
will come at a cost for students.
“If you cut that many teacher
jobs, we’re going to lose pro-
grams. Class sizes are going to
go up, and we’re going to have
fewer electives,” said Will Lyon,
president of the Santa Rosa
Teachers Association, which
represents nearly 1,000 educa-
tors.
He and dozens of other teach-
ers packed the Feb. 14 school
board meeting. They urged
school board members to “use a
scalpel and not hatchet” when
making budget cuts after the
committee also suggested elimi-
nating the jobs of four elementa-
ry prep teachers and most of the
five home and hospital teachers,
who work with students unable
to attend school because of med-
ical conditions. The home and
hospital teachers, who work with
up to six students a day, recent-
ly saw a pay increase after the
district agreed under a new col-
lective bargaining agreement to
put them on the salary schedule,
rather than paying them hourly.
District officials said they’ll
look at attrition to reduce layoffs.
Even with retirements, which
average about 30 a year, officials
say they still may have to hand
out pink slips next month.
Staffing costs consume about
three-quarters of the Santa Rosa
City Schools’ budget, said André
Bell, assistant superintendent of
business services. That leaves lit-
tle room to cut elsewhere, he said.
“At some point, it’s going to
have to touch personnel because
that is the largest part of the
budget,” Bell said.
Last year, the Santa Rosa
school district cut $4.5 million
from this year’s budget because
of higher costs toward employee
pensions, lower than expected
state funding and errors in past
budgets. The district is spending
roughly $18 million on employee
pensions this year, about 9 per-
cent of its operating budget.
School board members will
hold a special public meeting
Wednesday to decide how to trim
next year’s budget.
“There’s virtually no district
in this state that’s not dealing
with this,” longtime school
board member Bill Carle said
last week. “The hundreds of
teachers that have been lost in
San Diego, L.A. and a number
of other areas in the last year is
testament to the fact that this is
not just this district.”
“There aren’t accounting er-
rors that have created a big loss
of money somewhere,” he noted.
“The fact is … we’re inadequate-
ly funded in the state of Califor-
nia. It’s not this board’s fault.
It’s not any other board fault.”
In addition to rising employee
health care and pension costs,
school districts across the state
have seen student enrollment
decrease over the last decade,
in part because of changing
demographics. That impacts
their bottom lines since the state
funds districts based on average
daily attendance.
More than half the districts in
the state face declining enroll-
CLASSES ON CHOPPING BLOCK: Students rehearse for a show during a dance class, above, while Maddy Hammock rips boards on the table saw during a woodshop
class at El Molino High School. The dance and woodshop classes at the Forestville school are facing cuts in light of budget deficits.
ment, said Mike Fine, CEO of
Fiscal Crisis and Management
Assistance Team, a state agency
that provides financial guidance
to school districts. And birth
rates aren’t expected to go up
anytime soon.
“There is no easy way to work
with that. With declining enroll-
ment, your revenue declines but
you don’t lose expenditures,”
he said, noting that schools still
must remain open and keep the
lights on.
While Gov. Brown plans to
provide additional money to
public schools, Fine said it won’t
resolve districts’ long-term
financial challenges.
The October wildfires further
compounded the financial chal-
lenges for some school districts,
said Steve Herrington, superin-
tendent of the Sonoma County
Office of Education.
Jenni Klose, the board presi-
dent, said the district as a whole
will need to come together and
demand changes, rather than
“fighting over the little bits of
crumbs the state leaves us.”
“We’re also in this disaster
recovery mode, which is total-
ly unknown,” she said. “Eight
hundred of our students lost
their homes in the fires, and 300
of them are not back. … We don’t
know what’s going to happen in
August.”
School districts continued to
receive state attendance-based
funding during the weeks they
closed amid October’s wild-
fires. However, officials fear
the wildfires will impact future
funding levels as fewer students
return. Assemblyman Jim
Wood, D-Healdsburg, earlier
this month introduced a bill that
would extend the safeguards
for attendance-based funding
PHOTOS BY JOHN BURGESS / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
likely will go up to about 24 stu-
dents in K-3 classes, 28 in fourth
and fifth grades and about 27
at the high school, Abbott said.
Some elementary schools also
might see grade combination
classes, while the high school
might scale back class offerings.
“Principals are going back
now and looking at their master
schedules,” he said.
In West Sonoma County,
school foundations made an ap-
peal to the community for mon-
ey to spare some classes. The
district plans to eliminate more
than 40 class sections at Analy
and El Molino high schools.
With declining enrollment and
state funding, Superintendent
Steven Kellner said the 2,000-stu-
dent district no longer can con-
tinue to dip into its reserves to
cover the class costs as it’s done
for the past 12 years.
“There are no reserves
available,” said Kellner, who’s
leaving the district at the end of
for another two years, allowing and become more efficient.” the school year.
districts to use pre-fire average Alexander said he froze non- The district lost about 500 stu-
daily attendance figures. essential spending this summer dents over the past decade. Declin-
The Piner-Olivet Union when he realized the district faced ing enrollment combined with ris-
School District, located in a “budget crisis” after the previ- ing employee pension and health
the fire-ravaged Coffey Park ous administration spent down care costs and the state’s new
neighborhood, where 1,300 homes their reserve to about $660,000, Local Control Funding Formula,
burned, lost about 50 students barely meeting the state’s 3 per- which dedicates extra resources
after the fires. Overall, it lost 100 cent rainy-day fund mandate. to schools with higher rates of
kids this year, or about 9 percent In 2012-13, the district had about English language learners and
of its student population, $5.3 million in the reserve. students from low-income fami-
according to its first interim “There were a lot of great pro- lies, created the “perfect storm”
report submitted in December to grams and support mechanisms for his district, Kellner said.
the county Office of Education. for students. It was one of the “We don’t fall into those cate-
The district will have to cut reasons I was attracted to the gories,” he said.
$500,000, or nearly 5 percent school district, but I didn’t real- Meanwhile, housing costs
of its $10.6 million operating ize they couldn’t pay the bills for continue to rise in the area. Da-
budget. them all,” Alexander said. vid Stecher, the school board’s
“That will be taken care of by He said the district will have president, said young families
reducing staff commensurate to trim $1.3 million for next year, with kids cannot afford to live in
with our reduction to our en- and an additional $300,000 to Sebastopol.
rollment,” said Superintendent $400,000 the following year. If it “As our students graduate
Carmen Diaz-French, who noted has to lay off staff, he said it like- and leave, no students are there
150 students in her district lost ly won’t be classroom teachers. to replace them,” he said. “Until
homes in the fire. Herrington said districts must there’s a way for more young
While the Bellevue Union send notices by March 15 to families to move into west Sono-
school district in south Santa teachers and staff who might be ma County, we’re going to face
Rosa wasn’t burned in the wild- laid off. enrollment problems.”
fires, its enrollment has been de- The Sonoma Valley school In addition to dance, El Moli-
clining over the past three years, district expects to slash the no is at risk of losing its French
Superintendent David Alexander equivalent of 26.5 positions to and woodshop programs, Princi-
said. The district of roughly help close a $2.4 million budget pal Matt Dunkle said. While not
1,800 students assembled a shortfall. Half the cuts will come all classes will be cut in those
45-member budget advisory com- from the elementary schools, subjects, those teachers would
mittee to explore possible spend- which will lose about 13 teach- likely only be able to work part
ing cuts, which recently were ers, said Bruce Abbott, associate time, forcing them to look for
brought forward to the school superintendent for business other employment, he said.
board. Recommendations include services. More than $400,000 will The high school needs to raise
slashing teacher aide and district come from non-staff related cuts. about $20,000 for each class
staff positions, eliminating per- Abbott said the district last section. So far, the El Molino
sonalized learning programs and month offered teachers a $20,000 foundation has raised about
shutting down a kindergarten retirement incentive to offset $10,000, Dunkle said.
after-school program. the need for layoffs. Thirteen “We don’t want to see our kids
“We’re looking at every kind teachers signed up. deal with the consequences,” he
of possible reduction,” said Abbott said “86 percent of our said. “We want to make sure that
Alexander, who joined the school expenses are people. You can’t the students are having the best
district this past summer after squeeze toilet paper and copy available.”
Alicia Henderson stepped down paper that much.”
to take another job in Washing- Class sizes also are expected You can reach Staff Writer
ton state. “This is a great oppor- to increase as a result. They cur- Eloísa Ruano González at 707-
tunity to retool what you’re doing rently average in the low 20s but 521-5458.

DISPATCHERS dispatchers across the country.

CONTINUED FROM A1
Now, four months after the
unprecedented wildfires, that
gap in preparation is one of the
clear shortfalls revealed amid
scrutiny of the way emergency
officials and agencies communi-
cated with the public during the
firestorm, when thousands of
people were forced to flee from
their homes without warning in
the middle of the night.
“This situation in October, un-
fortunately, that’s how we prog-
ress,” said Aaron Abbott, executive
director of REDCOM, the county’s
fire and medical dispatch center.
The agency has led an effort to im-
prove dispatcher training by writ-
ing a new 911 script for response
to massive wildfires in populated
areas. In an era of mega blazes, the
tool could influence operations for
The work was fueled by ques-
tions that even veteran emergency
dispatchers said lingered for them
long after that night.
“We had very good, very ex-
perienced dispatchers that gave
instructions by good improvisa-
tion working with (both) limited
information and information
overload,” Abbott said.
Emergency warnings
Many residents who were
forced to flee their homes late
Oct. 8 and early Oct. 9 remain
outraged they were never
warned about the fires approach-
ing their neighborhoods. Sono-
ma County emergency officials
chose to distribute warnings
through automated calls to land-
line phones and opt-in messag-
ing programs — including Nixle
and SoCo Alert, which require
users to sign up in advance —
even though few people had reg-
istered to get those messages.
They did not consider the
wireless alerts to cellphones that
would have reached a far wider
swath of the community, a de-
cision that has drawn scathing
criticism from many evacuees
and fire survivors.
The only warning retired San
Francisco police officer John Fla-
herty and his wife received the
night of the fires was the door-
bell, a new electric model that
chimed when the power went
out sometime about 1 a.m. Oct. 9.
They have no landline at their
home on Old Redwood Highway,
and although their cellphones
were nearby, they hadn’t heard
of Nixle or SoCo Alert and so
hadn’t signed up to get emergen-
cy alerts.
The back fence and trees were
already on fire when they awoke,
and they fled with little more
than their two dogs.
“We could have left with a few
more possessions, jewelry, mem-
ories,” said Flaherty, 63. “The
more information people have,
the better chance they have to
survive and make good choices.”
The public outcry helped spur
the state Office of Emergency
Services to conduct an indepen-
dent assessment of the county’s
emergency notification process.
Sonoma County Administrator
Sheryl Bratton asked the state to
conduct the review in a November
letter “so that we can learn from
this event in order to improve our
emergency operational response
in the future.”
County’s response
That night, Bratton said she
was awakened about 11:30 p.m. by
a phone call from Jim Colangelo,
interim director of the county’s
Fire and Emergency Services de-
partment, saying multiple wild-
fires were burning in the county
and first responders were calling
for mandatory evacuations for
communities in the hills west of
Calistoga. She told him to open
an emergency operations cen-
ter at the designated site at the
courthouse in Santa Rosa, and
she headed there.
“I thought it was going to be
a fire in a discrete location. I
had no idea what was going to
happen,” said Bratton, who that
night began running the coun-
ty’s response as the designated
director of emergency services.
Two of the county’s top emer-
gency services officials, Chris-
toper Helgren, the emergency
services manager, under Colan-
gelo, and Zach Hamill, the emer-
gency services coordinator, were
in Yosemite National Park for a
conference and would not learn
of the fires until past midnight.
By that time, the Tubbs fire,
which would go on to be the most
TURN TO DISPATCHERS » PAGE A15
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2018 A15

DISPATCHERS forth scripts weren’t available

CONTINUED FROM A14
destructive blaze in state history,
had been burning for more than
two hours and was advancing on
Santa Rosa.
Those first hours, Bratton said
she was focused on getting the
county’s emergency apparatus
rolling — calling top staff into
leadership positions — and she
wasn’t focused on the methods
her emergency staff were using
to issue warnings.
Bratton now says that warning
system is among the main areas
she wants the county to improve
after the October fires, in addi-
tion to other areas like sheltering
evacuees and directing volun-
teers. She’s hired an independent
facilitator to help debrief county
staff on a report detailing what
worked and what didn’t in the
county’s handling of the disaster.
“People have this high expecta-
tion that government needs to no-
tify them, and to be better at notify-
ing folks,” Bratton said. “There’s a
lesson learned on that front.”
State report pending
Severe floods, fires and other
emergencies in California over the
past several years have exposed
cracks in local emergency train-
ing and response across the state
— chiefly, the way agencies warn
the public, said Mark Huston,
deputy director of the California
Governor’s Office of Emergency
Services.
“You can’t experience a se-
ries of catastrophic events like
we have had and not learn and
change as a result of it,” Huston
said.
Two state experts on emergen-
cy warnings have been working
on the assessment, which was
partly delayed because of the De-
cember wildfires and subsequent
mudslides in Southern California,
Huston said. They will provide a
report to Sonoma County any day
now, he said. The findings will be
discussed in public Feb. 27 at a
Board of Supervisors meeting.
Huston said the analysis of
Sonoma County’s response will be
the first step toward a statewide
examination of warning technol-
ogy and protocols. Technology
advances have fractured the way
people get information, with a
dwindling number of households
keeping their landlines, so gov-
ernments must be nimble in their
KT McNulty, a supervising dispatcher, oversees a call during a training session at the REDCOM dispatch office
on Wednesday in Santa Rosa. The agency has joined a nationwide effort to improve dispatcher training and
write a 911 script for responding to massive wildfires burning into urban areas.
preparations to get information to
people who need it, he said.
“Other jurisdictions are look-
ing at what happened in Sonoma
and saying, ‘What should we be
doing?’” Huston said.
He said the Tubbs fire that
burned from Calistoga to Santa
Rosa will be a case study going
forward for the ways emergency
agencies must prepare for faster
evacuations. The fire — which
made a 12-mile run in about four
hours — was less like a wildfire
in some ways and more akin to
the Oroville Dam crisis, when
a near-failure led to the sudden
evacuation of nearly 200,000 peo-
ple downstream in Butte County.
“Things have changed — the
climate has changed, our fuel
loads are different,” Huston said.
“You have to make improve-
ments. There is a ton to learn
from these disasters.”
Inundated with calls
The night of Oct. 8 there
weren’t enough dispatchers, fire-
fighters, police officers, deputies
or ambulance crews to respond
to every person in need as blazes
burned across a 40-mile front in
Sonoma County.
By 11:08 p.m., when the wom-
an called 911 from Nuns Canyon
Road, the county’s fire and med-
ical dispatchers were already
inundated, taking the number
of calls in one hour that they
normally receive in a day. About
1,400 calls poured into emergen-
cy dispatchers during the first
24 hours of the fire.
Many callers had questions
dispatchers didn’t know how to
answer: Should I evacuate? Are
fire engines on the way? How do I
stay safe when flames are block-
ing my escape?
KT McNulty was supervising
Sonoma County’s 911 dispatch
center that night and she took
many difficult calls, including one
from a panicked woman at a prop-
erty at the end of a dead-end road.
“There’s no road out,” the wom-
an said, according to a recording
of the 911 call which came in at
12:41 a.m. The woman said she
and her husband were going to
get into a neighbor’s pool.
“If that’s the safest place for
you to be,” McNulty said in the
recording.
Dispatchers didn’t have
trapped-by-wildfire instructions
that would help them determine
if pools offered those in harm’s
way any safety given the fires’
scorching radiant heat. Pools
turned out to help several people
survive the fires, including the
couple on the dead-end road. Af-
ter that call, dispatchers around
the room started asking people
trapped by fire to look for a pool,
McNulty said.
“We had to think of anything
possible,” McNulty said. “Can
BETH SCHLANKER / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
you go up the road? Can you go
down the road? Do you have a
chainsaw? Is there a neighbor’s
gate you can get through?”
But even a pool offered no
guaranteed refuge. Carmen
Berriz, 75, died as she and her
husband huddled in the pool of
a Mark West Springs vacation
home where they were staying.
Her husband survived.
New tools for disaster
Emergency dispatchers don’t
typically improvise, but some-
times they must. They usual-
ly work with set instructions,
asking 911 callers specific ques-
tions and then, depending on
the answers, they use a script
of instructions based on re-
search-driven knowledge that
can enable the best outcome.
On Wednesday afternoon,
McNulty demonstrated how this
might work on a call reporting a
man with chest pains. Is he alert?
Is he breathing normally? What
color is his skin? Has he taken
any medications, and does he
have a history of cardiac issues?
McNulty punched answers
to each question into her com-
puter and was instantaneously
prompted with the next ques-
tion and ultimately instructions,
which could be as simple as take
an aspirin or as urgent as find a
defibrillator.
But such detailed back-and-
for local dispatchers in October
as callers asked for help amid the
firestorm.
“Nobody had ever brought to
us the issue of people trapped
by wildfire in a short matter of
time and asked what do they
do,” said Mike Thompson, who
heads the fire research division
of the Utah-based International
Academies of Emergency Dis-
patch, which writes and provides
dispatch protocols to more than
3,000 agencies worldwide. “We
were a little bit surprised.”
Wildfire veterans know the
first thing a person being over-
run by a wildfire should do
is head for the areas already
burned, said Thompson, a career
firefighter who retired as a bat-
talion chief in Rapid City, South
Dakota. In October, that often
wasn’t possible in the fast-mov-
ing flames that engulfed entire
neighborhoods.
“We were scrambling to come
up with what we need to do be-
cause if it happened once it will
probably happen again,” Thomp-
son said. “The wildland fire in-
dustry has been seeing unprec-
edented fire behavior for several
years now.”
After the fires, Abbott, the
county REDCOM executive di-
rector, and his team went to
work drafting new protocols for
dispatchers and reviewing them
with Thompson’s group.
They developed a list of ques-
tions for dispatchers to ask call-
ers: Is there a dirt area or grassy
clearing, a culvert or wall that
might provide shelter from ra-
diant heat or flames? Is there
a body of water nearby deep
enough for people to submerge?
They also outlined advice that
dispatchers could give to people
in a fire zone: Keep your clothes
dry if you’re outside a body of
water because a person could be
burned as the fire’s radiant heat
causes the clothing to steam.
“If there’s a place with loose
soil, can you dig a hole quickly
and cover yourself up?” Thomp-
son said. “They’re kind of like our
active shooter instructions — it’s
the last-ditch effort to stay alive.”
The dispatch academy will
finalize and release the instruc-
tions to the dispatch centers it ac-
credits across the United States
and other parts of the world by
June or July, Thompson said.
Sonoma County dispatchers
were given a draft of the instruc-
tions on Feb. 7.

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 RIVERTOWN REVIVAL » Revelers in CHEESEMAKER GROWING » Point Reyes
costume descend for Petaluma fest. A3 Farmstead Cheese opens factory. E1

SUNDAY, JULY 15, 2018 • SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA • PRESSDEMOCRAT.COM

Officials mum on asset seizures

ROHNERT PARK » Police
drug stops far north on 101
netted $2.4M in 3 years
By JULIE JOHNSON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Rohnert Park city leaders said they
had little to no knowledge of their
public safety department’s aggres-
sive efforts to intercept black-mar-
ket drugs and cash by sending police
officers far outside the city.
None of the five elected City
Council members would say last
week whether they believed those
operations were an effective use of
city resources, but one called for a
closed-door meeting to discuss an
investigation into a controversial
former sergeant in the Rohnert Park
Department of Public Safety who led
the seizures.
The operations focused in large
part on the heavy flow of marijuana
and cash down Highway 101 between
the North Coast’s famed Emerald
Triangle cannabis growing region
and the San Francisco Bay Area and
beyond.
Targeting motorists on that route,
Rohnert Park officers seized $2.4
million in cash and valuable assets
in the past three years — more than
any other law enforcement agency in
Sonoma County claimed under civil
forfeiture laws. Many of the seizures
were near the Sonoma-Mendocino
county line — more than 40 miles
north of Rohnert Park — and their
peak came during a period when the
city was struggling to fully staff its
public safety department of cross-
trained police officers and firefight-
ers.
The city’s top enforcer in those
missions, former Sgt. Brendon
“Jacy” Tatum, left the force in June
amid a city investigation into the
complaints of a driver who said he
was the victim of a drug robbery by
unidentified officers on Highway 101.
Tatum’s departure also coincided
with mounting complaints about his
on-duty conduct.
Mayor Pam Stafford said she re-
Brendon
mains “extremely proud” of Rohnert
Tatum
Park’s public safety department and
Ex-police sergeant
said she doesn’t have the facts that
for Rohnert Park
would allow her to comment on the
is under scrutiny
city’s policy for highway traffic stops
over traffic stops
and asset seizures
TURN TO SEIZURES » PAGE A12

OCTOBER WILDFIRES » EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM

Early backlash
Donald Trump

Trump’s
defiant
embrace
of Russia
over warnings
ANALYSIS » President Records reveal county officials scrambled amid scrutiny
appears nearly untethered
By J.D. MORRIS
from his administration

T
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

By MARK LANDLER he wildfires were

AND JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS still raging out of
NEW YORK TIMES
control early Oct. 12
WASHINGTON — It was a when a top Sonoma Coun-
jarring moment, even for an ty official warned elected
American leader whose curious
attraction to Russia has often re- leaders of a simmering
sulted in mixed messages from controversy that was
the United States. about to become a public
Just a few hours after Pres-
ident Donald Trump doused relations nightmare.
expectations of extracting any Journalists were be-
confession from President Vlad-
imir Putin on Russia’s election
ginning to scrutinize the
meddling when they meet Mon- county’s failure to send
day, his own Justice Department mass cellphone alerts
issued a sweeping indictment Sonoma County Supervisors Susan
of 12 Russian
during the first hours of Gorin, clockwise from top left,
INSIDE intelligence the Oct. 8 firestorm. James Gore, Lynda Hopkins, Shirlee
■ Trump returns agents for Peter Rumble, then a Zane and David Rabbitt were
to Scotland ahead hacking the scrambling over mounting scrutiny
of Monday talks Democratic deputy county adminis- about the county’s emergency alert
with Vladimir National Com- trator who was helping system as the October wildfires
Putin in Finland. mittee and the run the county’s civilian raged across the region.
Clinton pres-
■ President
idential cam- emergency command
blames Barack
Obama for Rus- paign. center, told the Board of about “what they see as in- dia attention on warnings
Trump’s ac- Supervisors in a 5:26 a.m. adequate notice of evacua- as a “consistent theme”
sian meddling in
tions demon-
2016 election.
strated how email that at least one tion” as the fires spread. during emergencies.
■ Brewer issues he is almost Bay Area news outlet was Rumble wasn’t wor-
limited release wholly un-
beer with Trump, tethered from preparing a critical story ried, describing the me- TURN TO WARNINGS » PAGE A14
Putin in mind. his adminis-
Stories, B8 tration when
it comes to
“You think you made the right choice. You made no choice, and now
dealing with Moscow. Wheth-
er it is Russia’s interference in
the thousands of lives that are shattered can never be replaced.”
the election, its annexation of PAM RUMBERG, Mark West Springs area resident expressing her disappointment about the county’s fire alerts
Crimea or its intervention in
Syria, Trump’s statements ei-
ther undercut, or flatly contra-
dict, those of his lieutenants.
The disconnect is so profound
that it often seems Trump is
pursuing one Russia policy, set
on ushering in a gauzy new era
of cooperation with Putin, while
the rest of his administration is
pursuing another, set on coun-
tering a revanchist power that
the White House has labeled one
of the greatest threats to U.S. se-
curity and prosperity.
As Trump prepares to meet
with Putin in Finland, diplo-
mats and former government
officials said these contradic-
tions would undermine both the
president’s efforts to cultivate
a relationship with Putin and
his government’s efforts to halt
Russia’s campaigns to damage
U.S. democratic institutions and
bully its neighbors.
“The president has hobbled
his own executive branch, Winds with gusts of up to 68 mph pushed flames over hillsides into several neighborhoods in and around Santa Rosa
and the executive branch has during October’s Tubbs fire. Sonoma County’s emergency alert system during the fires has remained a source of criticism.

TURN TO TRUMP » PAGE A2 CHRISTOPHER CHUNG / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Business E1 Crossword T7 Lotto A2 Obituaries B4 REBIRTH OF NAPA WINE TRAIN: Operators of SANTA ROSA ©2018
Classified E5 Forum B11 LeBaron T1 Sonoma Life D1 vintage locomotive rolling out unique themed High 84, Low 55 The Press
Democrat
Community B10 Golis B1 Nevius C1 Smith A3 rides amid $100 million upgrade project / D1 THE WEATHER, C8
A14
Homes on Rincon Ridge in Santa Rosa’s Fountaingrove neighborhood, shown from above on Oct. 25, were leveled by the Tubbs fire. Many residents were forced to flee as flames approached.
WARNINGS
CONTINUED FROM A1
“I’m a little surprised it is
coming so soon, however,” he
wrote.
Nearly eight hours later, the
situation became more urgent. A
television news crew unexpect-
edly showed up at the emergen-
cy center, another county official
wrote at 1:06 p.m. in a nine-mem-
ber group text message that
included all five supervisors.
The TV crew had interviewed
the county’s emergency man-
ager, Christopher Helgren.
The story could be negative,
Assistant County Administra-
tor Christina Rivera texted the
group.
Some included on the Oct. 12
text thread were dismayed. They
viewed the scrutiny of warnings
as premature and felt inclined to
defend the county’s emergency
response so far.
“Special place in hell for peo-
ple who want to play the blame
game right now,” Rumble texted
about 5:38 p.m.
The exchanges, obtained by
The Press Democrat through
a public records request, show
how officials scrambled to re-
spond to growing public back-
lash and critical media coverage
of the failure to issue more
widespread warnings about the
firestorm.
The communications are
included among more than
1,000 pages of Sonoma County
documents, including emails,
text messages and reports
shared among county super-
visors and several top county
officials from the outset of the
wildfires through February.
The records show how county
leaders were confronted by
intense public vitriol regarding
emergency alerts for months
after the fires were contained.
And they reflect some of the in-
ternal steps county leaders took
to respond to that criticism and
prevent it from resurfacing the
next time disaster strikes.
‘Vultures circling’
One county official was
particularly displeased to hear
journalists came to the emer-
gency operations center to ask
about the alerts in the afternoon
of Oct. 12, four days after the
fires erupted.
TV cameras don’t belong in
that setting, Supervisor Lynda
Hopkins wrote in the group text
thread.
“Vultures circling while we
are still issuing evacuation no-
tices,” Hopkins said. “A county-
wide evacuation notice would
have resulted in chaos and even
more fatalities.”
In addition to Hopkins, the
group text message included the
other four elected supervisors —
Shirlee Zane, James Gore, David
Rabbitt and Susan Gorin— as
well as Rumble, Rivera, County
Administrator Sheryl Bratton
and Rebecca Wachsberg, a
deputy county administrator
who was the county’s primary
spokeswoman at the time.
Hopkins, in the same message, Supervisor Shirlee Zane speaks during the Board of Supervisors meeting July 10 in Santa Rosa.
Peter Rumble, a former deputy Sonoma County administrator who is now CEO of the Santa Rosa Metro Chamber, gency alerts was “almost as
informed county supervisors via email in October on growing scrutiny over the emergency alert system.
offered praise for Helgren, the
emergency manager who would cy operations center as long as
retire in March under heavy
scrutiny.
“I’m sure Chris did a great job. view that the public and media
You all have made all the right
calls, and I will defend every de- county’s emergency notification gency alerts has proven to be the evacuation clarification when
cision that our EOC has made,”
Hopkins texted.
Rabbitt subsequently texted
to the group that The Press
Democrat also wanted to access to limit the use of emergency
to the emergency operations
center for a potential story. He
suggested the story — which
never happened — could present
an opportunity to “counter” the questions, fine, let’s ask them
emerging storyline about the
county’s alerting shortfalls.
Rumble instead proposed the
county work with its spokespeo- interview. “But we’re still try-
ple to “take the circus away from ing to save lives at that point.
our response efforts,” perhaps
through sit-down interviews at
another government office.
Rumble, who said he worked
graveyard shifts in the emergen- saving lives right at that time
16 or 17 hours at the height of
the wildfires, agreed in an inter-
should pay close attention to the
process. But the debate began
too soon, in his view.
The Press Democrat’s first
story on the county’s decision
alerts was published Oct. 12, the received any official notice about of impact would likely hamper
same day multiple other outlets the rapidly unfolding disaster.
ran stories on the issue.
“If we’re going to ask those
and answer that,” Rumble, who major shortcomings in the
is now CEO of the Santa Rosa
Metro Chamber, said in a May
And anything that happens
to distract and pull away and
create a circus on something
that is important but isn’t about He wasn’t confident the system, efforts, the information on alerts
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT • SUNDAY, JULY 15, 2018
JOHN BURGESS / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT that sending too many emer-
— that was a problem. A big
problem.”
System’s major shortcomings “Further inundation of the
The controversy over emer-
most sustained source of criti-
cism regarding Sonoma Coun-
ty’s handling of the firestorm
response, as many residents
questioned why they never
Both an external state govern-
ment review and the county’s
own internal audit identified
county’s emergency notification Harper’s email, forwarded the
system.
Helgren last year said he
decided in 2016 not to utilize
technology that can force
warnings onto people’s cell-
phones during local disasters.
BETH SCHLANKER / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
KENT PORTER / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
called Wireless Emergency
Alerts, could be targeted to an
area smaller than the entire
county — an inaccurate belief,
according to state officials who
later said Helgren’s decision
was “influenced by a limited
awareness and understanding”
of the system as well as “outdat-
ed information regarding WEA’s
technical capabilities.”
But the records released by
the county show Helgren wasn’t
alone in misunderstanding the
wireless notification technol-
ogy, which is commonly used
to broadcast Amber Alerts
about abducted children. A
representative of OnSolve, the
Florida company that provides
the software powering Sonoma
County’s warning system, SoCo
Alert, told a county emergency
coordinator Oct. 12 that it was
“impossible” to target Wireless
Emergency Alerts to detailed
geographic areas.
Troy Harper, general manager
for the public sector at OnSolve,
warned in the 4:03 p.m. email
dangerous as under-alerting,”
contending that notifying a large
number of people who weren’t
affected by the disaster “would
have exasperated an already
critical incident.”
911 system by citizens asking for
they live outside of the evacua-
tion area would impede true life
safety emergency calls,” Harper
wrote. “In addition, evacuation
notifications outside the area
emergency units response times
due to extreme and unnecessary
traffic.”
Zachary Hamill, the emer-
gency coordinator who received
message to another county staff
member who later distributed
talking points to supervisors
about the county’s emergency
notifications.
“At that time in our response
and warnings was developed
with input from Fire and
Emergency Services and their
partners, such as OnSolve,”
Jennifer Larocque, the county
staff member who distributed
the talking points, said in an
email last week. “As the County
transitioned out of emergency
response, additional information
was compiled from other agen-
cies and experts.”
The talking points mirrored
some of the earliest public com-
ments made by county officials
during the flurry of media
coverage about the emergency
alerts. In The Press Democrat’s
story on the topic Oct. 12, Hamill
said if he had notified “half a
million people, many wouldn’t
have read the whole message
and would have thought it was
an order for them to evacuate.”
Hamill said he stood by the
decision at the time. Helgren
made similar points in a Novem-
ber interview with The Press
Democrat.
But by late February, in
TURN TO WARNINGS » PAGE A15
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT • SUNDAY, JULY 15, 2018
WARNINGS
CONTINUED FROM A14
advance of a widely anticipated
review from a state government
agency, the county had changed
its tune. Gore, who became
board chairman in January, said
in a Feb. 22 meeting with Press
Democrat reporters and editors
that the county’s emergency
warning failures “absolutely”
endangered lives. In Sonoma
County, 24 people died in the
wildfires.
“We should have woken up the
world,” he said.
First public discussions
As public criticism and media
attention on the lack of more
widespread wildfire warnings
mounted, county officials began
to take action. On Nov. 27, Brat-
ton sent a letter to Mark Ghilar-
ducci, the director of the state
emergency services office, re-
questing an independent review
of the way the county notified
the public about the fires.
While that review was under-
way, the Board of Supervisors
had its first public discussion
about the emergency notifica-
tions during the firestorm.
At the Jan. 29 meeting, con-
fusion arose over an “internal
review” Helgren referenced as
he briefed supervisors about the
steps his division had taken to
develop an “even more robust
and timely alert and warning”
capacity. Zane and Rabbitt were
disappointed Helgren had not
provided a detailed written ac-
count of the analysis underpin-
ning his verbal presentation.
The following week, Zane
grew impatient after reading a
Press Democrat letter to the ed-
itor calling on every member of
the board to resign. She texted a
picture of the letter at 9:23 a.m.
to Bratton and Gore on Feb. 8,
lamenting that such criticism
was persisting and she wasn’t
“seeing action.”
“Every day that we wait to
make decisions, we look stupid-
er and stupider,” Zane said. “I
don’t blame the public for being
outraged at all. I’m outraged.”
Zane also questioned why Hel-
gren still hadn’t sent in a written
report providing more detail
about the presentation he made
to supervisors the week before.
“I think there is valuable
information in seeing his report
and an external report done by
OES,” Zane texted, referring to
the pending state Office of Emer-
gency Services review. “I would
like to see if there are discrep-
ancies.”
But at 10:46 a.m., Bratton
emailed supervisors a memo
from Helgren, whose presen-
tation the week before had
“caused more questions than it
answered,” she said.
In the memo, Helgren told
supervisors he had no internal
report to provide them.
“Unfortunately, my reference
did not accurately convey what
evaluation efforts are currently
underway,” Helgren wrote. “I
was not clear about when the
Board and the public could ex-
pect to review findings and pro-
vide feedback on a more detailed
assessment of the event.”
Later that month, Helgren
was reassigned to a different
role. He retired weeks later in
March at age 56.
Bratton, through a county
spokesperson, and Zane declined
to comment about whether
the confusion played any role
in Helgren’s departure, citing
confidentiality requirements on
personnel issues.
But Zane remains frustrated
she hasn’t seen a written report
from Helgren.
“I had no way of being able
to follow the sequence of events
without a written report,” she
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A15
PHOTOS BY KENT PORTER / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Bill Stites watches as homes burn Oct. 9 as the Tubbs fire overtakes the Fountaingrove neighborhood in Santa Rosa.
rings hollow As is no doubt
your soul (sic).”
Zane said she hadn’t seen the
message, which she dismissed as
“crap.”
Bratton said she understands
the intense anger of fire survi-
vors who endured “harrowing”
escapes as flames approached
late Oct. 8 and early Oct. 9.
“That is a very traumatic
experience,” Bratton said in an
interview. “I empathize with
them, and having to go through
that and feeling like, ‘Hey, had
you only sent me a cellphone
notice a couple hours before, I
could have been prepared, or
I wouldn’t have had to endure
what I endured in terms of hav-
ing to get out so quickly.’”
Overhauling alert system
In the wake of two reviews on
the disaster alert process — the
state’s and their own — coun-
Martin Whiteside, showing an image on cellphone, was awakened by a neighbor at 1 a.m. on Oct. 9 to flee his
ty supervisors have begun to
home as the Tubbs fire approached Rincon Valley and Santa Rosa. He received no notification via his phone or
reform the emergency manage-
an emergency radio alerting him about the firestorm.
ment division and the way they
said in a May interview. “When The retired officer, whose Ragueneau wrote. warn the public about disasters.
did we put out the Nixle alerts? name wasn’t included in the Additionally, a former Supervisors agreed to hire
When did we put out the SoCo county record, was “very con- longtime county emergency more emergency management
Alerts? When did the sheriff cerned about the lack of notifica- manager reached out in March staffers, some of whom will help
say, ‘I’m sending my deputies tion to residents around Sonoma to an aide of Gore’s, raising develop a new community warn-
to knock on doors in the other County.” In a 10:23 a.m. email, some points that appeared to ing program. The county may
part of Fountaingrove or Hidden the sender wondered if the fail- shift blame away from Helgren. later move the division under
Valley?’ These were my constit- ure ultimately led to the unnec- The county has “always been the jurisdiction of the Sonoma
uents that ran for (their lives). I essary “death(s) of many people viewed throughout the state County Sheriff’s Office.
wanted to know what happened who had no idea that the fire was as having a strong emergency A countywide test of the Wire-
when.” approaching their homes.” management team,” wrote less Emergency Alerts system is
Twenty-four people died in Sandy Covall-Alves, who “truly” also planned for September.
Public outcry over warnings the fires in Sonoma County believed “that was the case on Bratton said the Office of
For months, members of and nearly 5,300 homes were those fateful days.” Emergency Services review
the public emailed county destroyed. Still, the majority of the showed that, in the eyes of the
supervisors and staff members “Had a countywide alert been county correspondence reflected state at least, there’s no such
with critical and even scathing sent out, it would have reached deeply negative and often angry thing as alerting the public too
comments about the firestorm more people and likely saved commentary about the alerting much during disasters — a di-
warnings, or lack thereof. additional lives and property,” failure. rect pivot from the advice given
Pam Rumberg, who lost her the email said. “My preliminary One of the harshest messages by the county’s emergency alert
home in the Mark West Springs opinion is that the failure to use came from a man identified only system vendor on the fourth day
area outside Santa Rosa, emailed the Wireless Emergency Alert as Rob, a Santa Rosa resident. of the fires.
Helgren Oct. 15 to say she was System (as it was intended) was a The message was received That advice has now been
“very disappointed” and “down- grave mistake and it may have di- Nov. 22 by one of Zane’s aides. banished — though the vendor
right upset” about the county’s rectly caused the death of many.” In it, the sender sounded off remains — as officials have
fire alerts. The subject of her The messages were not about “illegal evictions” and vowed to warn the public early
email: “You failed us!” uniformly negative. Among the evoked the suicide of Zane’s and often.
“You think you made the right records provided to The Press husband seven years ago, Gore has said he now prefers
choice. You made no choice, Democrat was an emailed copy suggesting others might face “imperfect, relentless commu-
and now the thousands of lives of a LinkedIn message sent to a similar fate rather than wait nication” instead of the “com-
that are shattered can never Helgren on Oct. 12. for her “continued ineffective mand-and-control communica-
be replaced,” she wrote in her “I want to personally thank governance.” tion” techniques he thinks fell
7:15 a.m. message. “The blood you for what you were able to do “First your collective County short in October.
and anger and sadness is on to help our community,” wrote emergency alert system failure, “I think it comes down to
your hands. We are beyond up- Alena Ragueneau, who was “ap- something that County em- what’s in your message,” Brat-
set with your decision and have palled” by reporters “position- ployees and yourself should be ton said. “Society or the commu-
every right to be.” ing” while the community was held criminally responsible for nity expects more.”
Two days earlier, someone in such a “dire situation.” involuntary manslaughter,”
who identified themselves as a “(I) want you to know that the message said. “Your fake You can reach Staff Writer
retired police officer experienced without your infrastructure and facade of an appeal for folks J.D. Morris at 707-521-5337 or
with emergency communica- planning, that much more dev- to seek therapy on the news at jd.morris@pressdemocrat.com.
tions reached out to Hamill. astation would have been seen,” this time of crisis, while logical, On Twitter @thejdmorris.
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 TIP OF THE CAP » Mother, daughter TRADER JOE’S REBUILDS » Grocery
who share passion for hats launch chain begins work to restore shop
SR’s Hattery to sow creativity. D1 on Cleveland Avenue in SR. A3

HOW THEY SLICE IT » North Bay

bakers focus on work-life balance
while catering to demand. E1

SUNDAY, JULY 22, 2018 • SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA • PRESSDEMOCRAT.COM

Housing, living costs big for voters

PRESS DEMOCRAT POLL »
Majority surveyed say county
offers good quality of life
By GUY KOVNER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Affordable housing and the high cost
of living are the top concerns for Sonoma
County voters, who also cited homeless-
ness and traffic congestion as problems
that are growing worse, according to The
Press Democrat Poll.
Just over three-fourths of respondents
to the recent telephone survey said traf-
fic jams have worsened in recent years,
while 75 percent said the same thing
about homelessness and 74 percent
voiced worry over the cost of living.
More than two-thirds (67 percent) cit-
ed the diminishing stock of housing they
can afford.
When poll respondent Alyssa Bridg-
es moved from Philadelphia to Sonoma
County two years, she experienced “stick-
er shock” over rents that were about $500
a month higher here. She felt fortunate,
she said, to find a place in Camp Meeker
for herself, her boyfriend and her sons,
Sean, 11, and Jason, 8, at $1,900 a month.
A month after the October fires, the
landlord said he wasn’t going to renew
her lease, most likely, she surmised, be-
cause he intended to raise the rent.
“I was really stressed,” said Bridges, 48.
She found a three-bedroom house on
a hill in Monte Rio for $2,000. She saves
money because she’s not paying for
air-conditioning in the summer or heat-
ing all winter long, as she had back East.
A majority of respondents (54 percent)
said the county is going in the right direc-
tion versus 29 percent who said it was on
the wrong track and 17 percent who said
they did not know.
Given an open-ended chance to name
the most pressing issues facing the coun-
ty, homelessness and the behavior of
homeless people combined was cited by
35 percent of respondents and the same
number cited high rents, while 31  per-
cent named the cost of home ownership.
Rebuilding after the fires (18 percent),
TURN TO POLL » PAGE A13

OCTOBER WILDFIRES » HILLTOP FIREFIGHTING IN SR

Water system crimped

effort to save houses
Donald Trump

Lack of
progress
stymies
Trump
NORTH KOREA » Private
frustration grows over
country’s stalling tactics
By JOHN HUDSON
AND JOSH DAWSEY
WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — When
he emerged from his summit
with Kim Jong Un last month,
President Donald Trump tri-
umphantly declared that North
Korea no longer posed a nucle-
ar threat and that one of the
world’s most intractable geopo-
litical crises had
INSIDE been “largely
Condemnation solved.” But in
from foes and the days and
allies besieged weeks since
Trump amid then, U.S. ne-
rollback over gotiators have
Putin talks / B1 faced stiff re- PHOTOS BY KENT PORTER / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
sistance from a COMPROMISED WATER TANKS: Rebar protrudes from a foundation near Santa Rosa’s R5 water tank Tuesday on Skyfarm Drive in the Fountaingrove neighborhood.
North Korean team practiced in Two of the 10 tanks in the hilltop area were out of commission when October’s Tubbs fire struck, leaving crews to struggle with low water pressure during the firefight.
the art of delay and obfuscation.
Diplomats say the North Ko-
reans have canceled follow-up Fire officials push for changes with infrastructure serving Fountaingrove
meetings, demanded more mon-
ey and failed to maintain basic By KEVIN McCALLUM
communications, even as the THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

A
once-isolated regime’s engage-
ments with China and South t 9:45 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 8, the deadly
Korea flourish. Tubbs fire roared to life just north of
Meanwhile, a missile-engine Calistoga and began its wind-whipped
testing facility that Trump said rampage west toward Santa Rosa.
would be destroyed remains in- The timing of the ignition could not have been
tact, and U.S. intelligence offi- worse, coming just as many residents were going
cials say Pyongyang is working to sleep, unaware of the approaching inferno.
The blaze also came at a profoundly inop-
TURN TO TRUMP » PAGE A2 portune time for the water system meant to
safeguard thou-
WHO’S RESPONSIBLE? sands of homes in
INSIDE California lawmakers set Santa Rosa’s hilltop
to tackle key question on Fountaingrove
SANTA ROSA wildfires: Who’s liable? / A3 neighborhood.
High 81, Low 54 At the moment
the fire began, the
THE WEATHER, C8
huge green tanks that supply the area with
millions of gallons of drinking water also CHRISTOPHER CHUNG / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Benefield C1 Lotto A2 used for firefighting were likely at their lowest LOW WATER PRESSURE: Bodega Bay volunteer firefighters work to douse flames on a burning house
Business E1 Movies D6 levels of the day, depleted in some cases to just Oct. 9 in Santa Rosa’s Fountaingrove neighborhood, where near-empty tanks supplied water in the battle.
Classified E5 Obituaries B4 a third of their capacity, awaiting replenish-
Community
Crossword
B10
T7
Sonoma Life
Smith
D1
A3
ment during off-peak hours when electricity is
cheapest.
“Because of the severe decrease in water
Forum B11 Towns T1 Two of the 10 tanks were out of commission
for seismic safety issues.
pressure, we had all these trucks but not
As result, after the Tubbs fire reached
the upscale neighborhood around 1 a.m.,
the pressure to effectively combat the fire.”
JACK PICCININI, former Santa Rosa battalion chief who was head of
the Rincon Valley and Windsor fire districts during October’s firestorm
TURN TO WATER » PAGE A14
©2018 The Press Democrat

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A14
“There are two fundamental but separate things you need in an effective
water system — water volume and water pressure — and we need both.”
JACK PICCININI, former Santa Rosa battalion chief who led the Rincon Valley and Windsor fire districts during the October firestorm
WATER TANK RETROFIT: Jesse Reeger, left, and Derek New of Paso Robles Tanks cut metal while seismically retrofitting Santa Rosa’s R3 water tank, located on Fountaingrove Parkway, on Tuesday. Water officials are
working closely with the fire department to increase the storage levels in city water tanks during periods of increased fire danger, Santa Rosa city officials say.
WATER
CONTINUED FROM A1
firefighters faced a disturbing
discovery: They repeatedly lost
pressure in the hoses they’d
connected to hydrants served
by the Fountaingrove tanks,
hampering their efforts to
contain the rapidly spreading
inferno.
At crucial moments in the
battle, firefighters were forced to
retreat to the valley floor, where
water pressure was stronger,
according to fire officials on
duty that night. There, they’d fill
their engines or water tenders
from hydrants, and head back
up the hill to continue trying to
save lives and homes.
“The bottom line is firefighters
need water to fight fires,” said
Jack Piccinini, a former Santa
Rosa battalion chief who was
head of the Rincon Valley and
Windsor fire districts during the
firestorm. “By the time the cav-
alry arrived, because so many
buildings had been lost and
because of the severe decrease in
water pressure, we had all these
trucks but not the pressure to
effectively combat the fire.”
By the time dawn broke Oct. 9,
it became clear that while heroic
evacuation efforts had saved lives
in the neighborhood — only two
Fountaingrove residents died
in the fires — the effort to save
homes had largely failed.
Much of Fountaingrove —
1,420 homes — had been wiped
off the map, the hardest-hit area
of a city that bore the brunt of
the nearly 5,300 homes lost in
Sonoma County to the fires.
No match for firestorm
Like so many other public
safety departments and systems
in Sonoma County, Santa Rosa’s
water system was overwhelmed
by the firestorm. As hundreds of
houses and businesses burned at
the same time, the pipes in those
buildings were compromised,
leading to an unrestricted
release of water from individual
service lines and a systemwide
drop in pressure, officials said.
“There is no water system that
I know of that can sustain that
type of damage and still have
water pressure,” Santa Rosa Fire
Chief Tony Gossner said.
But the water pressure and
supply failures that hampered
firefighters’ efforts in Fountain-
grove have taken much longer to
come to light than many other
shortfalls in the emergency
response.
In the first few months after
the disaster, the city’s engineers
and managers were more focused
on understanding and fixing the
water contamination issue that
arose in Fountaingrove because
of the fires. They eventually
concluded benzene released by
burned plastic pipes and other
components was back-siphoned
into some water mains when the
water pressure dropped.
That conclusion has led to more
questions about how and why the
water pressure dropped so severe-
ly in Fountaingrove and in the
smaller parts of the neighborhood
hit by water contamination. WALLS GOING UP: Kathy and Ed Hamilton are rebuilding their Fountaingrove-area home in Santa Rosa. Kathy Hamilton, who
Fire and public works officials lost her family home in the Tubbs fire, says she would like answers from the city about the neighborhood’s water system.
TANK UNDER WRAPS: Wyatt Lemma of Paso Robles Tanks picks up refuse around tion of the pressure issues to be
Santa Rosa’s R3 water tank, which is being retrofitted to meet seismic standards.
have only now begun to piece
together their understanding of Rosa Water said in late June she
the failure, examining the roles
that water storage levels, power ture of the system’s performance, no idea if water pressure prob-
outages and damage to water
lines played.
But unlike other public agen-
cies, Santa Rosa Water has yet to nothing about its performance in about water pressure up here,
publicly answer basic questions the firestorm or afterward.
about how its system performed
during the most destructive
initial hours of the firestorm.
Over several months, The
Press Democrat has requested
information that would factor
in such an assessment, includ-
ing the actual water levels in
the Fountaingrove tanks at the
time the Tubbs fire erupted and public and the press and, of
the levels when it arrived three
hours later.
But the city has yet to provide We’re still navigating and trying
that information and has de-
clined to answer other questions and what the lessons are going
about when it lost power to its
pumps, whether the pumps had
backup generators, whether
they worked and what efforts
were taken to restore pressure.
‘Very complex problem’
Ben Horenstein, director
of Santa Rosa Water, earlier
this month declined to release
information about tank levels,
pump failures and other data
that might shed some light on
the pressure problems the area
suffered during the fires.
KENT PORTER / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT he said. He expects the examina-
A spokeswoman for Santa
planned to provide a clearer pic-
but Horenstein intervened. He
released limited information
about the city’s water system but
Horenstein said more anal-
ysis was needed to ensure the
answers were complete and
accurate.
“This is a very complex
problem to fully understand,”
Horenstein said. “The city is
working to understand it and
is planning to share it with the
course, the council. We are still
in the investigative process.
to understand what occurred
forward.”
Until now, Horenstein said,
city staff had focused their
efforts to document, understand addition in a growing list of
and solve the contamination
issue in a part of Fountaingrove overpowered by the historic
around Fir Ridge Drive, where
all but 13 of 350 homes burned.
City officials initially sug-
gested a total replacement of
the water system in the area
might be necessary — a two-
year project estimated to cost up emergency alert system was
to $45 million. But in response
to new water quality data and
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT • SUNDAY, JULY 22, 2018
fierce pushback from residents
eager to rebuild, officials adopt-
ed a phased approach, beginning
with a $3 million effort now un-
derway to replace contaminated
water service lines. Test results
have shown water quality is
improving, and officials have
pledged to install water filters
for any home in the area that
needs one, though it has yet to
do so.
That work has taken priority
over doing the analysis needed
to fully explain the challenges
the water system faced in the
fires, Horenstein said. But that
investigation is now underway,
completed in early August.
Kathy Hamilton said she’d
love to hear the city’s expla-
nation. She lost her home on
Shillingford Place, but she has
lems prevented firefighters from
saving her home.
“I’ve heard multiple stories
including that one of the tanks
had been drained for fixing,” she
said. “I have no idea how any-
thing gets distributed through
the labyrinth of pipes up here.”
A sheriff’s deputy was appar-
ently able to use her garden hose
to save her neighbor’s home, so
that would indicate at least some
pressure was present in the sys-
tem shortly before 10 a.m., when
alarm system data suggests that
her home caught fire.
“I want answers,” Hamilton
said.
Tinkering with changes
The water system failure in
Fountaingrove is just the latest
public infrastructure that was
firestorm.
Many of the shortfalls have
already been publicly acknowl-
edged by other agencies. The
state Office of Emergency
Services found that the county’s
inadequate and overseen by
officials with an outdated under-
KEVIN McCALLUM / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
PHOTOS BY KENT PORTER / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
standing of current technology.
Key government agencies
responding to the fires couldn’t
communicate effectively with
each other, according to the
county’s postfire analysis.
And the state’s mutual aid
system failed to send all the re-
inforcements requested by local
departments.
Though Santa Rosa’s look
at its water system drags on,
there are already signs the city
recognizes it needs to rethink
how it manages its water supply
to combat future wildfires.
Water officials are working
closely with the fire department
to increase the storage levels in
city water tanks during periods
of increased fire danger, Goss-
ner said.
“When there’s a red-flag day,
they fill them to the top now,”
Gossner said of weather con-
ditions that allow fires to grow
rapidly.
Gossner said the city also is
looking into “hardening” the
structures housing the powerful
pumps that fill the tanks, an
effort to prevent what Goss-
ner said was the failure of two
pumps on the night of the fire.
Horenstein downplayed the
importance of such changes.
Asked whether the depart-
ment had adjusted its operations
in any way as a result of the
fires, including tank filling, he
said in an interview “nothing
materially has changed.”
He later acknowledged the
department was experimenting
with increasing the water supply
by 5 percent in tanks in certain
cases.
He called talk of hardening
pump houses “premature,” stress-
ing that more information would
be available once the city investi-
gation had been completed.
Limits of hilltop system
City officials likewise have
been tight-lipped about any
efforts employees took the first
night of the fires to address pres-
sure problems.
But restoring power to water
pumps appears to have been
part of the short-term strategy.
In the days immediately after
the fire, Skyfarm Drive resident
Loren Dias spotted a truck that
appeared to have a large gener-
ator on it outside the water tank
above his home, a tank that was
on restricted duty because of
seismic concerns.
And to this day, a temporary
generator appears to be parked
beside the building that houses
the pumps serving two huge
tanks just off Fountain Grove
Parkway near Nagasawa Com-
munity Park.
Horenstein said the investi-
gation will examine the perfor-
mance of the city’s water system
during the fires and factors that
led to the lack of water pressure.
“We want to understand
where there may be relative lim-
itations in the system,” he said.
Some of those limitations to
the Fountaingrove water system
are becoming clearer.
Unlike most of the city areas
on the valley floor, which
range from 100 to 200 feet in
elevation, the developed areas
TURN TO WATER » PAGE A15
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT • SUNDAY, JULY 22, 2018 A15

WATER
CONTINUED FROM A14
of Fountaingrove are as high
as 870 feet above sea level,
with many homes offering
commanding views of the Santa
Rosa Plain below.
Delivering water to those
homes, businesses and hy-
drants involves a network of
10 steel reservoirs with a total
capacity of up to 7.8 million
gallons. Large electric pumps
push water up the hill from one
tank to another. The system is
complex, with gravity and water
volume maintaining pressure in
16 different zones in the general
Fountaingrove area.
By contrast, the vast majori-
ty of Santa Rosa is served by a
single pressure zone, which gets
its pressure from the Sonoma
County Water Agency’s massive
Santa Rosa aqueduct.
“There are two fundamental
but separate things you need in
an effective water system — wa-
ter volume and water pressure —
and we need both,” Piccinini said.
On the first night of the Tubbs KENT PORTER / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
fire, both were problems for fire- WATER TANK CLOSE BY: With Santa Rosa’s R5 water tank in the background, Raul Valdez Moro of MKB Construction carries plywood for subflooring for a home under
fighters in Fountaingrove. construction Tuesday on Skyfarm Drive in Santa Rosa’s Fountaingrove neighborhood. The home was one of thousands destroyed during October’s Tubbs fire.
Because of the way the tanks
were being managed, there was to disinfect it, but the chemical filling your reservoirs in the they worked or not — or for how closely with the water depart-
not 7.8 million gallons of capac- dissipates with time. To keep most efficient way possible,” said long — and what efforts were ment to turn off water in select-
ity on hand at the time the fire the chlorine levels in a required Joe Schivone, deputy director of taken to restore pressure. ed areas during a major blaze.
swept though. The supply issues range, the city has to both water operations. Power outages made such data Firefighters struggling to save
arose from several factors. refresh the water in each tank It’s not clear how long it took difficult to come by during and homes in Fountaingrove were
Two of the 10 tanks were not regularly and manage tank lev- for the city’s pumps to refill the after the fires, Horenstein said. exasperated to see water pouring
fully operational on the first els to synch up with area usage tanks, nor whether that timing The water system relies on com- out of broken pipes in buildings
night of the fire. One of those to ensure the water doesn’t sit in was a factor in the water pres- munication equipment for such that had already been destroyed,
tanks, a 500,000-gallon reservoir the tank for too long, explained sure loss. The pumps would have metrics, and it also was affected wasting a precious resource.
located near the top of Fountain- Jennifer Burke, the city’s deputy had a least a few hours — from by the loss of electricity, he said. “When you’re driving by
grove Parkway, was undergoing director of water resources. ignition to the arrival of flames City water systems must commercial buildings and you
seismic repairs at the time. To ensure water stays fresh in Fountaingrove — to begin balance the need to provide safe see water streaming out of a
A second tank, a 300,000- for drinking, the pumps that fill refilling the tanks, Schivone drinking water with the require- foundation and just running
gallon vessel on Skyfarm Drive, Fountaingrove’s tanks turn off said, though the city provided no ment to provide sufficient water down the street, you have to ask
also has seismic issues and is after levels reach 65 to 95 percent data to illustrate what happened to fight fires, Horenstein said, the question,” Piccinini said.
limited to holding 20 to 30 per- to ensure the water stays fresh during that key period. and the study will seek to gather The city should also explore
cent of its capacity. for drinking. An evacuation order affect- the facts needed to have an ways to design the water system
Even when fully operational, ing Fountaingrove and nearby informed discussion about those with features that would allow
the tanks were never actual- Pumps’ performance unclear areas wasn’t issued through competing demands, he said. water to be trucked in an emer-
ly filled to capacity in order The timing of the Tubbs fire Nixle until 1:41 a.m., when “The intent and the design of gency to repressurize the sys-
to comply with strict health may also have factored into the flames were already burning this investigation is to have a rig- tem, Piccinini said. Such ideas
regulations. By city protocol, shortage of water to battle the through the greater Mark West orous analysis of the question so may prove logistically infeasible,
the operational tanks were only flames in Fountaingrove. area and Larkfield. By about 2 that we get it right, because we but they should at least be enter-
filled to between 65 percent and At 9:45 p.m., when the fire a.m., the Tubbs fire had jumped are talking about two life-safety tained, he said.
95 percent of capacity during the ignited, the city tanks are gener- Highway 101 and was moving issues that need to be thought “Those are the kinds of poten-
summer of 2017, according to ally at their lowest levels of the into Coffey Park, where it would about in balance.” tial solutions that managers need
pumping guidelines. day. That’s when the pumps are claim another 1,200 homes. to be brainstorming and holding
That’s done to ensure the programmed to begin refilling The city has provided no infor- Battling future fires conversations about and working
water — which is used for both — when electricity rates are mation about what happened to Water pressure problems it though,” Piccinini said.
drinking and firefighting — lowest. Tanks in the area are its pumps during those terrify- are profoundly frustrating for
remains clean and safe to drink. generally allowed to fall to half ing hours. Officials have declined firefighters. To ensure they have You can reach Staff Writer Kevin
The Sonoma County Water or even 30 percent of capacity to say when they lost power to enough water to battle future McCallum at 707-521-5207 or
Agency adds a small amount before replenishment. the pumps, whether the pumps fires, Piccinini said the fire kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.
of chlorine to the water supply “That’s to make sure you are had backup generators, whether department should work more com. On Twitter @srcitybeat.

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SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2018 • SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA • PRESSDEMOCRAT.COM

OCTOBER FIRESTORM | 1 YEAR LATER

Lasting Damage
Of Historic Disaster

PHOTOS BY KENT PORTER / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

A SIGN OF HOPE: The Kappes family erected a sign at the front of their now vacant lot on Bellagio Court in Santa Rosa’s Fountaingrove neighborhood, which was hard hit last October in the Tubbs fire.

12 months after devastating wildfire, scale

of destruction remains in league of its own
By J.D. MORRIS SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2018 • SECTION H

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Rebuild

O
FOUNTAINGROVE NORTH BAY

ne year ago, Crown Hill Drive

was filled with green trees,
green bushes and green
lawns surrounding upscale
homes lining a picturesque road curving
through Santa Rosa’s northeastern hills.
KENT PORTER / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
One year after the devastating Tubbs fire swept through Coffey Park in Santa Rosa, new houses have been steadily rising across the scarred neighborhood.

FOCUS ON HOW THE FIRES CHANGED US

L
ast October, an inconceivable siege decisions and worries confront anyone able
of wildfire laid waste to our region and willing to rebuild. Insured losses across

Today, the lots along this street are

overnight, destroying in the end
more than 6,200 homes and claiming
40 lives. Seen from above just days
into the disaster, the devastation was warlike.
Now, nearly one year later, a snapshot of the
region’s uneven recovery also emerges from
the air. The landscape is a patchwork of barren
lots and rebuilding projects, with roughly 1,000
new homes rising in burn zones across Sono-
the region continue to climb and may reach up
to $15 billion. And such figures do not account
for the ongoing strain of job losses, the scram-
ble to find rental housing and the pain of fam-
ilies torn apart. For those who lost loved ones,
as one survivor put it, “there’s no rebuilding.”
Yet stories of resilience and generosity con-
tinue to shine through, a heartening reminder
to all, regardless of circumstance, that much

brown and barren, much of the remain-

ma County — just a fifth of the total lost here. good can come from a firestorm born on our
The slow progress is no surprise. Ceaseless darkest night.

INSIDE

ing vegetation charred, the premises RECOVERY A MIX OF HIGHS,

LOWS IN SONOMA VALLEY
Progress has been painstaking,
but resilient residents helping
neighbors all along the way.
3 PATHS FORGED IN FIRE
AT CROSSROADS
Developer from New York and two
families find their lives forever
defined as before, after inferno.
REFLECTING ON LIFE
1 YEAR AFTER FIRESTORM
Santa Rosa residents affected by
October’s wildfires share their
views of life in the aftermath.
ARTIST FINDS BEAUTY
IN PAIN AFTER BLAZES
Rachel Forbis still vividly recalls
the night of the firestorm, which
is now influencing her artwork.

otherwise nearly devoid of life. “THERE’S NOBODY AROUND THERE”: Judy Coffey and her husband, Harry, survey their Crown
Page H9 Page H17 Page H27 Page H29

Hill Drive homesite Friday, which burned down in the Tubbs fire. “It just looks desolate,” she says.
A ferocious wildfire destroyed most
MORE
Hard lessons leading to better
homes here, along with nearly
1,600 others in the greater Fountain- INSIDE
emergency preparedness
SONOMA LIFE: Readers
grove area. The sounds of construction share how their lives
resound on nearby streets and birdsong have been forever
occasionally rings through the area. Oth- changed by fires / D1
erwise, silence prevails. BUSINESS: Stores and

I
By JULIE JOHNSON on Mountain Home Ranch Road in
restaurants damaged THE PRESS DEMOCRAT the foothills of the Mayacamas Moun-
“There’s nobody around there,” said Judy Coffey, or destroyed by blazes tains. Propane tanks were exploding.
whose Crown Hill Drive home of 13 years burned down struggle to rebound / E1 t was 11:19 p.m. on The neighborhood needed a fire
last year in the Tubbs fire. “It just looks desolate.” REBUILD NORTH BAY: Oct. 8, and a panicked engine “an hour ago,” she said.
Inside Santa Rosa, Fountaingrove absorbed the Stories of resilience and “How big is the fire? Huge,” she
heaviest blow in the historic wind-driven inferno, generosity overflow as caller to Sonoma Coun- said. “Acres. Hundreds of acres.
which consumed an acre of ground — roughly one homes slowly rise / H1 ty’s 911 dispatch center Nobody’s been warned about this.”
football field — per minute as it made its deadly People would die, she feared.
12-mile run from Calistoga to Santa Rosa late Oct. 8
was incredulous the opera- Less than two hours earlier, a
and early Oct. 9. COMING tor wasn’t aware her world wildfire had erupted off Tubbs Lane
Today, this neighborhood is beset by challenges that had exploded in flames. outside Calistoga. Hot, dry Diablo
have slowed its recovery, which lags far behind Coffey MONDAY winds drove the fire west, up and over
Park, where fewer homes were lost but hundreds more Anniversary coverage: “What’s on fire?” the 911 dispatcher the mountains that border Sonoma
are underway. In greater Fountaingrove, construction A look at a number of asked. County and down into a landscape of
the laws enacted in light Everything, the caller said. The
TURN TO DISASTER » PAGE A11 of October wildfires trees, the houses, anything standing TURN TO LESSONS » PAGE A14

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A14 THE PRESS DEMOCRAT • SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2018

OCTOBER FIRESTORM | 1 YEAR LATER

KENT PORTER / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

CONSIDERING FUTURE DISASTERS: “If this happened tomorrow, we would not have the lives lost like we did,” says retired Rincon Valley-Windsor Fire Chief Jack Piccinini, who pauses April 5 on the edge of Santa
Rosa’s Fountaingrove neighborhood where the Tubbs fire crested at Foothill Ranch and Cresta Ridge, background, last October. “But would we have the same property loss? We might.”

LESSONS budget to bolster the mutual aid

firefighting network, which did
not deliver the resources needed
avalanche of real-time reports
of fires and aid requests from
residents and first responders
CONTINUED FROM A1 to quickly help in the October into an early and clear sense of
fires. what was unfolding.
ranches and rural subdivisions “The size and scope of Sonoma County Sheriff Rob
on the eastern outskirts of Santa wildland fires in California are Giordano remembers hearing a
Rosa. getting worse,” said state Sen. deputy’s voice coming over the
The Tubbs fire, California’s Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg. radio plainly announcing his
worst wildfire on record, would He helped write a new law that dire situation to the dispatcher:
arrive in the city around 1 a.m., will require statewide standards Deputy Mark Aldridge and more
but already it had people run- for public emergency warnings than 30 others were surrounded
ning for their lives. Across the and has called for an overhauled by fire near Mark West Springs
region, a half-dozen other major approach to the way Califor- Lodge, and they were trying to
blazes were burning, trapping nia fights fire, starting with wait out the blaze in a parking
residents on Nuns Canyon Road improved forest management. lot.
above Sonoma Valley, near Atlas ALVIN JORNADA / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT A measure authored by As- Alarmed by what he heard,
Peak in Napa County and in VISITING THE FIRE ZONE: Gov. Jerry Brown, joined by Sens. Kamala Harris, left, semblyman Jim Wood, D-Santa Giordano stepped outside into
Redwood Valley in Mendocino and Dianne Feinstein addresses the media Oct. 14 before a town hall meeting Rosa, and signed into law this the back parking lot of the Sher-
County. on the North Bay fires in Santa Rosa. month by Gov. Jerry Brown will iff’s Office in Santa Rosa and he
At 11:40 p.m., two hours after provide up to $1 billion in forest encountered a deputy covered in
the Tubbs fire ignited, Sonoma would go days wondering about use of those messages last year, management funding over five ash with bloodshot eyes and in
County’s inundated 911 dispatch her fate. Her body was found by including Lake County in Oc- years to reduce fire risk. a state of shock after returning
center received the first call a deputy down the embankment tober and Southern California “We are in the age of mega from the fire line.
from the county’s emergency near the burned car. counties in December during an fires, and we have to invest in “He said, ‘I’m sorry, they’re all
services division. The youngest victims, a outbreak of flames that included the resources to keep communi- dead. Thousands of people are
The caller, Sam Wallis, an teenage brother and sister from the giant Thomas fire. ties safe,” McGuire said. “That dead,’” Giordano recalled.
on-duty emergency coordinator, Mendocino County, died days Sonoma County officials, means accurate, timely informa-
greeted the operator with “Good apart from burns they suffered including County Administrator tion when disaster strikes.” Heroes filled the void
morning,” and asked what while trying to escape with their Sheryl Bratton, have acknowl- Last October, weather fore- Over the next several weeks,
he should do. The dispatcher parents, who survived. edged they weren’t prepared. casters had predicted extreme the death toll reached 44 people
seemed taken aback by his ques- Most of those in the fires’ path State emergency officials and an fire danger three days before across Northern California,
tion. He could come into the call in Sonoma County received no internal county review reached the fires erupted. But Sonoma including the 24 people killed in
center, she said. official warning to evacuate. similar conclusions, the latter County’s plans in place at the Sonoma County, nine in Men-
“We have lots going on,” she “We should have woken up the report describing a workforce time to warn people in emergen- docino County, seven in Napa
added. world,” Board of Supervisors that was ill-equipped and under- cies were based on an outdated and four in Yuba County.
On another line, a separate Chairman James Gore would trained for the type of catastro- understanding of technology, That tally doesn’t include an
operator was urgently asking later say in the fires’ wake. phe that erupted last year. the state determined, and didn’t uncounted number of peo-
Mendocino County officials to California’s most destructive “We need to do more on every take into account how relatively ple who lost their lives in the
send help. But authorities there siege of wildfire dragged on for level,” Bratton said in an inter- few people still have landline immediate aftermath, including
were already taxed with a big 23 days before the flames were view months after the fires. telephones or had signed up for an elderly Santa Rosa woman
wildfire of their own she was contained in Sonoma County, Gore, the Board of Supervi- voluntary notification systems who collapsed after going door
told, according to a Press Dem- where the toll was heaviest, with sors chairman, said the county such as Nixle or SoCoAlert. to door alerting people in her
ocrat review of calls to Sonoma more than 5,300 homes lost and had missed the “wake-up call” Of all the fire officials, dis- building and a 27-year-old Santa
County’s 911 calls that night. 24 people killed. Across North- that came with ferocious fires in patchers and law enforcement Rosa man who died after an
Wallis, the on-duty emergency ern California, insured losses Lake County in recent years. commanders working that night, asthma attack at a time when
staffer, wasn’t clear what to do from the October fires could “I want to shake everybody none had been given the tools by the air quality was the worst
next. climb to $15 billion. Images of in my position around the state emergency services staff to issue ever recorded in the Bay Area.
“I’m not sure how much help staggering loss — entire neigh- and say, ‘Wake up, and learn the widespread warnings to the pub- That first night in the parking
I’ll be,” he said to the dispatcher borhoods reduced to ash and lesson,’” Gore said in a recent lic in times of emergencies. That lot of the Mark West Springs
on his call. “I’m with the emer- debris — captured national and interview. Thousands of acres authority was held by a pair Lodge, Aldridge, the sheriff’s
gency management section for international media attention of drought-stricken, forestlands of top emergency officials who deputy, kept people calm as fire
fire and emergency services. So for weeks. remain a tinderbox, he said. were out of town when the fires burned around them for hours
I’m not a fireman or something.” In the earliest days, evacu- “The complacency that exist- broke out. Even if they had been until they were able to escape.
The chaos, speed and destruc- ees began asking why Sonoma ed in our community prior to in town, one of those officials, To this day, Alice Eurotas
tive power of the October 2017 County had failed to warn peo- this cannot (continue),” he said. Christopher Helgren, the coun- doesn’t know how a strang-
firestorm exposed deep short- ple about the fast-moving fires ty’s emergency manager, had er — Mark Allen of Sebasto-
comings and outright failures burning into populated areas. No plan for ‘mega fires’ ruled out such forced cellphone pol — came to her rescue at
in emergency preparedness. The communication break- County and state officials say alerts, The Press Democrat first 2:30 a.m. Oct. 9 before her home
A year later, local officials and down triggered a backlash that they have learned other cru- reported last year. at Oakmont of Villa Capri, a
public safety leaders say they persists to this day, underpin- cial and potentially lifesaving Helgren was reassigned after Santa Rosa assisted care facility,
learned painful lessons from ning perhaps the county’s most lessons from the October 2017 the fires and subsequently re- burned to the ground. Allen had
the disaster. They have made significant single change in fires. They will evacuate popu- tired. Helgren said his decision rushed to the Fountaingrove
critical changes to the ways the fires’ aftermath: When the lated areas earlier. Dispatchers to rule out wider alerts was facility to retrieve his mother,
people are warned of emergen- next disaster hits, authorities now know how to coach people driven by a concern they would but when he arrived, he found
cies and directed to safety, fires have vowed to immediately and trapped by wildfire. PG&E will cause mass panic and traffic dozens of other elders without
are detected and attacked, and widely broadcast emergency shut off power lines during dan- jams that would hamper the means to escape, according to
power grids are operated during messages in as many ways possi- gerous weather events. Crews emergency response. court documents from a lawsuit
dangerous conditions. ble, including Amber Alert-style are installing fire-detection Separately, emergency dis- against the facility’s manage-
messages pushed onto cell- cameras on local hilltops and patchers for the Sheriff’s Office ment company.
Failure on warnings phones, a tool the county’s top stations are putting extra fire- and REDCOM, the county’s fire By that time, the Tubbs fire
Tens of thousands of people emergency manager sidelined fighters on duty when wildfire and medical 911 call center, were had been burning more than
were sleeping that night last before the October fires. risk is high. State lawmakers overwhelmed that night. They four hours. A northern branch
year when fierce winds whipped Other counties made effective added $25 million to the current had no system to convert an of the fire had shot across
flames into firestorms across six lanes of Highway 101 in
Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and northern Santa Rosa and was
Lake counties, overwhelming throwing embers onto roofs in
every aspect of emergency the Coffey Park neighborhood
response from public warnings as traffic from fleeing people
and firefighting resources to clogged the streets.
water, electricity, cellphone and Allen barged in to Eurotas’
911 systems. room yelling “Fire!” and then
It was not even a firefight in helped her slip into sandals,
those pre-dawn hours. People grab her walker and make the
fled on foot, they hid in pools slow march down the stairs, illu-
or drove white-knuckled into minating the darkness with the
unsettling traffic jams caused light of his cellphone. In the first
by so many trying to escape at floor lobby, Eurotas got her first
once. Firefighters and other look at the calamity unfolding
first responders did little else in outside.
those first critical hours than “Every shrub and every tree
get people out of danger. Not — everything outdoors was in
everyone was saved. flames,” Eurotas said. “I was
Forty people died in the North thinking to myself, ‘Where the
Bay fires. Some suffocated from hell are the firemen?’”
heat and smoke in their homes, The local firefighting force
others died inside their garages, was out in record numbers
trapped by motorized doors they that night, with many grabbing
could not open without power. turnouts and jumping into
One woman fleeing in her car trucks before being called to
missed a sharp turn in the road KENT PORTER / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT duty. They joined neighbors, law
not far from home. Her husband WILDFIRE SAFETY OPERATIONS CENTER: Evermary Hickey, PG&E’s director of emergency preparedness and response, back
drove by minutes later and left, and supervisor Diana Herr look at a monitor displaying weather information May 8 at the utility’s new facility in San Francisco. TURN TO LESSONS » PAGE A15
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT • SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2018 A15

OCTOBER FIRESTORM | 1 YEAR LATER

LESSONS swept through Northern Califor-

nia last October.
Sonoma County is allocating
CONTINUED FROM A14 $8 million to improve emergen-
cy preparedness, installing fire
enforcement officers and others detection cameras at high eleva-
pounding on doors, breaking tions across the county, boosting
through gates, heaving open brush clearance programs and
electric garage doors and strain- requiring all staff members
ing their voices to jar people out spend at least 20 hours each year
of bed, into their cars and out of on disaster training.
danger. “We need to accept these
On the hilltop streets of Foun- kinds of fires may be part of the
taingrove, where more than regular future,” said Christo-
1,400 homes were lost, firefight- pher Godley, the county’s inter-
ers encountered weak water im emergency manager.
pressure at crucial moments If a major disaster struck
in the firefight. Crews spent in Sonoma County today, a
precious time driving down the network of emergency workers
hill to refill water tenders and with the county, Santa Rosa
engines in other neighborhoods. and other jurisdictions are now
The neighborhood’s massive connected to each other in ways
green water tanks were at their that didn’t exist in 2017. A year
lowest levels of the day, two of ago, a “bunker mentality” — a
the area’s 10 tanks were out of term used by Supervisor David
commission, water pumps failed Rabbitt — hampered commu-
and backup generators were not nication, delayed evacuation
working. BETH SCHLANKER / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT notices and created inefficient
A city-funded examination of coordination among agencies
TRAINING TO RESPOND: KT McNulty, a supervising dispatcher, oversees a call during a training session at the REDCOM
the water pressure problems that trying to respond to an unprece-
dispatch office Feb, 14 in Santa Rosa. The agency has helped to develop a script to help people trapped by wildfires.
night concluded unrestricted dented disaster.
gushing of water from sprinkler They were, in fact, headed to billboards along the highways. have been forwarded to district Godley said emergency staff
systems, garden hoses and other Napa. Next month, dispatchers from attorneys to review for criminal are drawing up plans for re-
water spouts as the fire burned Reflecting back on that night, about 500 agencies across the negligence. sponse to bigger worst-case-sce-
quickly drained the system, crip- Piccinini, a veteran fire official, globe will receive a new script Investigators have not yet said narios than previously anticipat-
pling the firefight. said that’s when he threw out developed by REDCOM and what caused the Tubbs fire. ed — the Russian River flooding
the playbook and fire command- honed by experts to help people Faced with hundreds of at higher levels and in new
Seeking help, safety ers started calling nearby juris- trapped by wildfires. lawsuits from burned-out fire locations, for example — and
At the county’s 911 call cen- dictions directly instead of going In response to the October survivors as well as local gov- they are not waiting for scientif-
ters, where dispatchers were through the regular channels, fires, state lawmakers pushed ernments, PG&E has taken its ic modeling to prepare for those
coughing on smoke as they asking them to send strike teams through scores of bills to own steps to stem wildfire risks possibilities.
fielded a record number of calls, and any help available. strengthen the capacity of linked to its operations. The “These fires as well as recent
operators found themselves If the same kind of firestorm people and government to pre- company put in motion a plan events like hurricanes have in-
without a script for how to help hit the region again, Piccinini pare for and survive an era of to shut down power lines and dicated climate change impacts
people trapped by fire make life- believes firefighters, law enforce- increasingly volatile fires. remotely deactivate devices that are here,” said Godley. “We
and-death decisions. ment and emergency profession- Backup batteries will be send repeat charges of electric- didn’t expect to see these effects
Dispatchers repeatedly told als as well as residents would be required for all new electric ga- ity when power is cut — safety until 2030.”
callers a deputy would come better prepared, though he cau- rage doors so people can escape measures a San Diego utility has Giordano, who became an out-
to their door if they needed to tioned that the sheer power and when the power is out. Cal Fire used for years. It’s spending as spoken and reassuring authority
evacuate. For many that night, it number of fires that broke out has been authorized to collab- much as $700,000 on high-defini- figure during weeks of chaos
was a false promise. one year ago would still initially, orate with private landowners tion cameras to monitor poten- and fear as the fires continued
Local firefighters requested at least, overwhelm the fastest on controlled burns to reduce tial wildfires across the North to burn, said that one of the
more than 300 engines to assist deployment of firefighters. wildfire fuels. And utilities are Bay and an undisclosed amount greatest lessons for government
in the firefight, but only 130 were “If this happened tomorrow, now mandated each year to pre- on a new 24/7 command center was the need to tell the public
sent in the first 12 hours, accord- we would not have the lives lost pare a wildfire mitigation plan, at its San Francisco headquar- what you know when you know
ing to data from the state Office like we did,” Piccinini said. “But including all known fire risks in ters to monitor its entire service it, even if the picture isn’t yet
of Emergency Services. would we have the same proper- their service areas and how they area for wildfires and other complete.
At 12:06 a.m. Oct. 9, Jack Pic- ty loss? We might.” will address those risks. major events. “Give them more informa-
cinini, fire chief for the Windsor Authorities say they are State investigators have so tion,” Giordano said. “Just ex-
and Rincon Valley districts better equipped to direct people far determined 16 significant Training for next disaster plain to them where it’s coming
where 1,700 homes were lost — out of harm’s way in the next fires across Northern Califor- The state, in turn, is spending from and why so they have the
put on a 911 dispatcher’s headset life-threatening disaster. Santa nia last October were ignited by millions of dollars to improve all same context and the same view
to ask Cal Fire when additional Rosa police and fire officials as PG&E power lines and equip- manner of emergency response that you have. Because that’s all
firefighting resources would well as dispatchers and sheriff’s ment. In 11 of those instances, from firefighting to the 911 they’re asking — to understand.”
arrive. The operator said plenty deputies can now send alerts the state found the utility system, including a one-time in-
were on the way, and Piccinini through opt-in systems like company to be in violation of fusion of $25 million to help local You can reach Staff Writer Julie
double checked to make sure Nixle or SoCoAlert and push state regulations, mostly for agencies deploy extra firefighting Johnson at 707-521-5220 or julie.
they were heading to Sonoma messages out onto cellphones, failing to keep vegetation away crews during times of extreme johnson@pressdemocrat.com.
County. television, radio and electronic from its equipment. The cases fire risk — like the weather that On Twitter @jjpressdem.

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