Thank you to my AR friends who have reached out to me asking if everything is okay. I've been off AR due to most of Santa Rosa having no power or residential internet.
Big news in Sonoma County/Napa is a series of 5 large all uncontained fires rolling through the counties. In Santa Rosa we've lost entire neighborhoods like high end million dollar homes in Fountaingrove , to entire mobile home parks right next to Kaiser hospital and the sheriff's office! Most of Santa Rosa is without power and there is 0% containment. Portions of the city, & county are under mandatory evacuation and huge areas under recommended evacuation. Big portions of Santa Rosa is without power.
I live next to a 5000 acre park called Annadel State Park. The fire is working its way through the park but until I see the flames or are put under mandatory evacuation, I'm staying put. I have an evacuation plan, and stay off the roads so emergency vehicles can get by.
Today's plan, get dry leaves that can be ignited by flying embers away from the house & clean the gutters of dry leaves. Dump everything in the refrigerator. Need to re-evaluate what I want to save. I really don't think my house/neighborhood will burn but would rather do the hard work now, than regret later.
Fires started late Sunday night, I'm guessing between 10pm - midnight. We had unusually high winds of 30- 50 mph after a very warm weekend 80s +/-. I was first aware of the fire at 1:30am when my kid's mother sent me a text that she was worried about "all the fires". I thought "Get off the internet and go to bed!!" She convinced me that something was up, and when I went outside to investigate I smelled smoke and saw the hills surrounding Rincon Valley glowing orange in the heavy smoke. I helped her evacuate with the kids & dogs at 2:30am but I stayed and packed pictures, computers etc. & have been poised to run if/when needed.
For those who don't know, Santa Rosa is a city of 170,000 people in Sonoma County, north of San Francisco 60 miles. It is the biggest city in California that is north of S.F. It was a popular backdrop for Alfred Hitchcock films and is central to the Sonoma County's wine industry. It's referred to at the Redwood Empire, Sonoma County Wine Country, and "the North Bay."
I love living in Rincon Valley! I've lived here since 1995 and can't imagine living in a better north bay community. Call me today if you're interested in buying a home in Rincon Valley, or if you'd like to list your Rincon Valley home for sale.
- Jim Cheney, Broker
- Saint Francis Property
- Jim@StFrancisProperty.com
- (707) 494-1055
- Rincon Valley - Santa Rosa
- Certified Tourism Ambassador
Originally posted on RinconValleyBlog.com
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