By Ellis Levinson
When I met Andrea Allman at the Red Cross Community Assistance Center in Santa Rosa this month, I expected to learn how the Tubbs wildfire affected her emotionally. I didn’t expect to learn a personal lesson. Read more
By Mauri Shuler
When Gail Hale was suddenly evacuated from her home this month because of wildfire, she joined hundreds of others at a Red Cross shelter in Santa Rosa. Upon arrival, she found herself still stunned by the fast-moving fires — and the fact that they had resulted in the total loss of her home. “A wonderful woman greeted me, made sure I had a soft blanket, and talked with me; she was great,” Gail recalled. Read more
By Ellis Levinson
As the Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) pulled up at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic church in Calistoga, California, a crowd of mostly women immediately gathered. They were in need of basic items for their families. The truck was their best hope for relief from the financial strains created when the wildfires swept through three counties north of San Francisco this month. Read more
By Mauri Shuler
There were 3 babies born a few days ago at an evacuation shelter in Santa Rosa, California. Not human babies, but babies, nonetheless. Three little lambs are being sheltered at the County Fairgrounds along with the adult sheep and a motley crew of other large animals.
While the Red Cross takes care of people and their pets during and after a disaster, the large animals affected by a disaster like the massive fires in California are handled by other agencies. In Sonoma County, Animal Control has been sheltering all of the large animals.
When Marilyn Ingstrom heard about the fire, she drove through flames to get to her veterinary hospital to rescue the one cat that was there. Marilyn has been here since that morning. She arrived at 2:30 a.m. with her 6 dogs and 1 cat in the cab of her truck.
“As a veterinary technician, I just knew I could help,” she said. “Also I grew up on a farm and love all the big animals.”
So, they arrived. Horses, alpacas, llamas, goats, pigs, chickens, and sheep. She can’t tell us yet exactly how many. Some of their owners sleep in the tack room or in trailers nearby to be with their animals.
Marilyn did not lose her home but has 32 friends who did. “I guess I’m lucky, but my veterinary hospital burned down so I’m out of a job.”
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Jim Burns provided editorial support for this story.
By Ellis Levinson
Rising more than 2,000 feet above Napa Valley, Lokoya Mountain Lodge once stood as a refuge for the well-heeled. The resort burned to the ground in the 1950s. Eventually the remaining cabins gave way to development and 19 homesites sprang up in their place. But because of this month’s Northern California wildfires, those houses followed in the lodge’s path. The wind-driven flames left not a single home standing. Read more
By Ellis Levinson
There is a secret storeroom lurking in Santa Rosa. Its contents are as inexplicable and bizarre as any collection of hodgepodge the American Red Cross has ever known. It has nothing to do with Halloween. And we don’t want the stuff. The challenge is to have it go out the door more quickly than it comes in. In other words: “Help!” Read more
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