Calistoga, Calif., police officers inform Rancho de Calistoga mobile home park resident Larry Strakbein about mandatory evacuation orders. The department’s goal is to have all 5,000 residents of Calistoga out by 5 p.m.
Reporting from Calistoga, Calif. — Dennis DeVilbiss had made up his mind.
“I’m not leaving,” the former cop and firefighter said Wednesday afternoon as he stood on his front porch in Calistoga, a wine country town under threat from an approaching wildfire. Authorities had ordered its 5,000 residents to evacuate.
He glanced at smoke drifting over nearby trees, and smiled. “I’m not stupid,” said DeVilbiss, 60. “If it’s time to run, I’ll run like hell.”
As the death toll from 16 wildfires raging in Northern California climbed Wednesday, thousands more residents in Calistoga and elsewhere were ordered to flee their homes and firefighters raced against the setting sun to douse smoldering hot spots before devilish winds returned to breathe new life into the blazes.
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An inmate firefighter monitors flames as a house burns in the Napa wine region.
(Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images)
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Flames ravage a home in the Napa wine region in California.
(Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images)
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A firefighter walks near a pool as a neighboring home burns in the Napa wine region.
(Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images)
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Firefighters douse flames as a home burns in the Napa wine region, as multiple wind-driven fires whip through the region.
(Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images)
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Louis Reavis views the burned remains of his classic Oldsmobile at his home in Napa.
(Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images)
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A tent structure built for the 2017 Safeway Open burns in Napa on Monday.
(Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images)
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The Estancia Apartment Homes on Old Redwood Hwy. were completely destroyed in Santa Rosa.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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A resident rushes to save his home as a wildfire moves through Glen Ellen, Calif. Tens of thousands of acres and dozens of homes and businesses have burned in wildfires in Napa and Sonoma counties.
(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
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A Fountaingrove Village man surveys the rubble of his home in Santa Rosa.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Downed power poles and lines block a street in Hidden Valley.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times )
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A fcar burns in the driveway of a destroyed home in Fountaingrove Village.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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A wheelchair left abandoned at the evacuated Villa Capri assisted living facility on Fountaingrove Parkway in Santa Rosa.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times )
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A resident rushes to save his home as fire moves through the area in Glen Ellen, California.
(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
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A San Jose firefighter keep flames down at a home in Hidden Valley.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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A Fountaingrove Village couple takes in the ruins of their home after fire ripped through the neighborhood.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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A home destroyed in the fast moving wildfire that ripped through Glen Ellen.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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A swimming pool reflects the damage caused by the wildfires that moved through neighborhoods near Glen Ellen.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Benicia Police Officer Alejandro Maravilla, left, offers resident Gwen Adkins, 84, a soda while patrolling in the Coffey Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Spencer Blackwell, left, and Danielle Tate find Tate’s father’s gun collection, melted and burned, inside a gun safe at her father’s home in the Coffey Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times )
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An American flag is draped on a burned pickup truck on Camino del Prado in the Coffey Park neighborhood in Santa Rosa.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times )
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Scorched wine barrels at the Paradise Ridge Winery in Santa Rosa after the wildfire burned through.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Fire lights up the night sky framed by a vineyard near Kenwood.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Oakland police officers knock on doors as residents of the Rancho de Calistoga mobile home park are told to evacuate in Calistoga.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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An aerial view of the Coffey Park neighborhood detroyed by wildfire in Santa Rosa.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times )
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Contra Costa paramedics help Bill Parras, 96, evacuate his home in Calistoga.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times )
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CHP officers study neighborhood maps before going door to door to tell Sonoma residents to voluntarily evacuate ahead of the wildfire.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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A home perched on top of a hill sits in the foreground of a fire moving up on Shiloh Ridge near Santa Rosa.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times )
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Scorched grapes and vines along the edge of Storybook Mountain Vineyards in Calistoga.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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John and Jan Pascoe survived the firestorm by running out of their home and into their neighbors’ swimming pool in Santa Rosa.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Hundreds of burned wine bottles at the destroyed Helena View Johnston Vineyards near Calistoga.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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A Contra Costa County firefighter breaks a wall with an ax as his crew battles flames inside a home along Highway 29 north of Calistoga on Oct. 12.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Atascadero Firefighters try to control flames burning inside a home along Highway 29 in Calistoga on Oct. 12.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Contra Costa firefighters work to put out flames burning inside a home along Highway 29 north of Calistoga on Oct. 12.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Search teams sift through the debris of mobile homes at the Journey’s End Mobile Home Park in Santa Rosa.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times )
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A worker pulls out a firearm from the burned wreckage as search team members look through the debris at the Journey’s End Mobile Home Park in Santa Rosa.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Search team members sift through debris at the Journey’s End Mobile Home Park in Santa Rosa.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Coursey surveys the damage to the Coffey Park neighborhood.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times )
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Melted metal is seen on a car in the shadow of a destroyed home in Napa.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Lola Cornish, 50, and her daughter Kat Corazza, 18, look over recovered family jewels that survived the fire at Cornish’s grandfather’s home in Napa.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Some residents were allowed to return to their properties Friday in a neighborhood in Napa that was ravaged by the Atlas fire.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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A helicopter prepares to drop water on a fire that threatens the Oakmont community along Highway 12 in Santa Rosa.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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A helicopter drops water on a fire that threatens the Ledson Winery and Historic Castle Vineyards in Kenwood on Friday.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Manuel Mendoza sorts through donated clothing at the Bridge Church in Santa Rosa on Sunday.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Jean Schettler hugs Father Moses Brown after Mass at St. Rose Church on Sunday. Schettler’s daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren, after losing their house in the fires, have moved into the Santa Rosa home of Jean and Jim Schettler.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Gianna Gathman, 18, hugs her grandfather Jim Schettler during Mass at St. Rose Church in Santa Rosa on Sunday. Gathman’s family lost their home in the Fountaingrove neighborhood to the fire. They are now living with the Schettlers.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Kimberly Flinn holds onto the only item that wasn’t lost in a fire that destroyed her home in the Mark West Springs area in Santa Rosa. Flynn recovered a ceramic white butterfly that she had made in memory of a boy she used to babysit and was killed in a hit and run accident.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Gerry Miller, 81, tells San Francisco Police Department Officer Gary Loo how grateful she is to find her home still standing. Residents were allowed to return to their homes in the Mark West Springs area in Santa Rosa Sunday night.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Denise Finitz, 61, thanks Torrance Fire Department firefighters Keith Picket, right, and Capt. Mike Salcido on Oct. 16 after they helped her find her mother’s wedding ring in the ashes of her home, destroyed by wildfires on Carriage Lane in Wikiup.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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A search and rescue crew member gives a cadaver dog some water during the hunt for a possible fire victim in the Mark West Springs area of Santa Rosa on Oct. 15.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Burned cars like this vintage Volkswagen litter the landscape in Coffey Park. The neighborhood was completely destroyed by the Tubbs fire 11 days ago, with many residents fleeing in haste as their homes were enveloped in flames.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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A giraffe framed in the smoke filled air at the Safari West preserve.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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A Watusi bull looks out through the haze of the recent Tubbs fire at the Safari West preserve.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Peter Lang, 77, owner of the Safari West preserve, stands between a pair of white rhinos against a backdrop of charred hillside in Santa Rosa.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Mark Sharp, a resident of Coffey Park, sifts through the remains of his charred home in search of his wife’s wedding band.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Flowers were left on the mailbox of Roy Howard Bowman, 87, and his wife, Irma Elsie Bowman, 88 who died at their Fisher Lake Drive home from the Redwood Valley fire.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Dee Pallesen, left, and her daughter Emily Learn console each as they look over Pallesen’s home, destroyed by the Redwood Valley fire.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Jason Miller plants an American flag on the charred remains of his house as residents of Coffey Park return home.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Burned vehicles litter the landscape in Coffey Park. The neighborhood was completely destroyed by the Tubbs fire 11 days ago, with many residents fleeing in haste as their homes were enveloped in flames.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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A pickup truck rests beside a row of charred trees in the Coffey Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
During searches of destroyed homes, authorities found more bodies, bringing the number of dead to at least 23, fire officials said. The loss of life, along with the estimated 170,000 acres and 3,500 structures already burned, ranked the fires as some of the most destructive in state history.
“We’ve had big fires in the past,” Gov. Jerry Brown said at a briefing with state and federal fire officials. “This is one of the biggest.”
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With an estimated 50,000 people having left their homes for shelters and hotels, police continued to work to locate several hundred people reported missing by panicked relatives and friends. Authorities said that with communications hobbled by downed cellphone towers and people making hasty escapes, they were hopeful that most, if not all, would turn up safe.
As Brown made formal emergency declarations for eight counties, officials described a massive effort to get a handle on the fires, most of which continued to burn unchecked.
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Statewide, 30 air tankers, nearly 75 helicopters and 550 fire engines with several thousand firefighters had already been pressed into action. State officials requested more than 300 additional engines from other states and the federal government.
Through the night and into Wednesday morning, the devastating Atlas Peak and Tubbs fires continued to churn, feeding on tinder-dry vegetation made thicker by the winter’s heavy rainfall.
The Atlas Peak fire, which has menaced the town of Napa since Sunday, nearly doubled in size to 46,000 acres and began to push south, creating a new threat to Fairfield, a Bay Area city along Interstate 80.
Police ordered evacuations in the Green Valley area just outside Fairfield and advised residents in other neighborhoods to leave. Three school districts in the region — with a total enrollment of about 81,000 students — shut down for the rest of the week as thick smoke enveloped the area.
“This morning it felt like a war zone; yesterday evening you could stare straight at the sun — it was just this purple circle in the sky,” said Jennifer Leonard, a spokeswoman for the Vacaville Unified School District. “Ash was falling from the sky.”
In Napa, nearly surrounded by the Atlas Peak fire to the north and east and a smaller blaze to the west, the air was choked with smoke. Much of the town was without power or cell service.
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And the Tubbs fire, which ignited Sunday night in the hills above Santa Rosa and claimed at least 13 lives when it stormed into the city and surrounding areas, reversed its direction and began a push north.
With the fire’s about-face, Calistoga was at risk. At 3:30 a.m., county and town officials there joined police officers in going house to house in one neighborhood, telling people to leave. By afternoon, they decided to clear the entire town.
Contra Costa County paramedics help Bill Parras, 96, evacuate his home Wednesday in Calistoga, Calif.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times )
A dozen police officers from Oakland, called in to assist local police already stretched too thin, strode through the narrow lanes of a trailer park.
Many residents had already fled, but Larry Strakbein, 75, wanted to stay put.
“I’ve been through a lot in my life, including three wives,” he said. “I can handle myself.”
A moment later, three officers showed up at his door. “Sir, you have to leave,” one said.
Strakbein relented and an officer spray-painted a large red check mark on the street in front of his trailer.
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It was the anticipated return of the region’s notorious “Diablo” winds Wednesday night that had fire officials most worried.
Commanders dispatched crews of exhausted and sore firefighters to fan out across already-scorched mountainsides near Calistoga and Santa Rosa.
Their job was to find and squelch hot spots laden with embers. With axes and shovels, they chopped at shrubs and turned the soil.
The winds can reignite embers and send them hurtling through the air. If they land in areas not yet burned, there would be little that firefighters could do to stop them from setting off new conflagrations.
“The clock is ticking, so we’re giving it everything we’ve got,” Cal Fire Division Chief Ben Nicholls said as he sliced through dry grass and stubborn roots with a blade. “This isn’t that sexy. It’s called mop-up, and right now it is critical.”
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A few miles away, on a ridgeline just north of Calistoga, a hand crew of 13 firefighters worked on a smoldering slope.
“Every glowing ember is a ticking time bomb,” said Stephen Warren, a Cal Fire apparatus engineer.
The causes of the fires remained unknown, though Daniel Berlant, assistant deputy director at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said downed power lines, campfires and machinery are common culprits.
A spokesman for San Francisco-based utility Pacific Gas & Electric Co. said it is not yet known if the company’s power lines or transformers sparked any of the fires. With at least 40,000 customers without power in the Santa Rosa area, the spokesman said the utility’s priority is restoring electricity.
Sahagun and St. John reported from Calistoga, and Panzar and Rubin from Los Angeles. Times staff writers Phil Willon, Chris Megerian and Nina Agrawal in Napa and Sonoma counties, and Dakota Smith and Sonali Kohli in L.A. contributed to this report.
Louis Sahagún is a former Los Angeles Times staff writer who covered issues ranging from religion, culture and the environment to crime, politics and water. He was on the team of L.A. Times writers that earned the Pulitzer Prize in public service for a series on Latinos in Southern California and the team that was a finalist in 2015 for the Pulitzer Prize in breaking news. He is a former board member of CCNMA: Latino Journalists of California and author of the book “Master of the Mysteries: The Life of Manly Palmer Hall.”
Javier Panzar is a former assistant editor with the Los Angeles Times, where he oversaw audience engagement for the Environment, Health and Science department and, before that, its California section. He previously worked as a digital editor on the News Desk and as a reporter covering state and regional politics as well as breaking news in California. Panzar started at The Times as an intern and then a MetPro fellow in 2014. He was born and raised in Oakland. His reporting has appeared in the Boston Globe, the Seattle Times, the Orange County Register and UC Berkeley’s independent student newspaper, the Daily Californian.
Joel Rubin is deputy Business editor at the Los Angeles Times. He previously was an associate editor for New Initiatives and executive producer of L.A. Times Studios; an assistant editor in Metro, overseeing the criminal justice team; and as a reporter covered federal courts and agencies, the Los Angeles Police Department and the region’s public schools. A native of Maine, he moved to Los Angeles in 2003 to join the Los Angeles Times.
