Kincade Fire Evacuees Wait On Word To Return; Updated List Of Evacuation Centers
SANTA ROSA (CBS SF) -- Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said Monday morning that he expects to have more information later in the day on when residents who had to be evacuated because of the Kincade Fire can return to their homes.
UPDATE 10/29 3:00 pm: Kincade Fire Evacuation Orders Lifted For Guerneville, Sebastopol
About 185,000 people have been evacuated from east of U.S. Highway 101 all the way to the Pacific Ocean because of the fire, which started Wednesday night near Geyserville and has burned more than 66,000 acres and destroyed 96 structures as it approaches Windsor.
Living out of a trunk and running from a fire was a terrifying flashback for many of the evacuees.
"It brought back the memories from two years ago. It's memories that you don't want to go through again. This time it was much better than how it was. It was less chaotic. This time we had more time to pack and we got everything that we needed," said Alexis Ruiz of Santa Rosa.
Ruiz and his family live just outside of Coffey Park - their home one of a few that survived the Tubbs Fire in that neighborhood.
Many in the North Bay said if 2017 left one useful scar, it was to be hypervigilance.
Cortez and her daughter started packing as soon they knew they were in an evacuation zone. They left at 3 am Sunday morning and slept in an elementary school parking lot that night.
"No one thinks it's going to come to them. We all say it'll never happen to me. That's why we took the precaution this time packed up everything, left it in the car and as soon as we heard we were out of there," said Emma Cortez of Santa Rosa.
Now, packed into shelters, they wait for word as to when they may return.
Essick at a Monday morning briefing clarified the difference between the terms "re-entry" and "re-population," with re-entry meaning allowing residents to go back to areas that have burned and re-population meaning the return to unaffected areas.
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The sheriff said there is no current plan to allow residents re-entry to burned areas since many remain as active fire scenes, but officials with the county and Cal Fire plan to meet later Monday to talk about when residents may return to unaffected areas.
Essick said the tentative plan is to re-populate areas "somewhat in reverse order of evacuations" that were ordered over the weekend, with residents in the western part of Sonoma County likely able to return to their homes first.
Announcements on when residents can return to their homes will be made on Nixle and other social media, he said. People can sign up for alerts by texting their zip code to 888777.
The county's Office of Emergency Services early Monday released a list of evacuation centers for people who have fled their homes due to the Kincade Fire.
County officials said the shelters are all small-animal friendly and ID is not necessary to stay. Federal government agencies don't have access to the shelters and English- and Spanish-speaking staff will be available.
The following evacuations centers are open:
Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building, 1351 Maple Ave, Santa Rosa
Sonoma County Fairgrounds, 1350 Bennett Valley Rd., Santa Rosa
Petaluma Community Center, 320 N. McDowell Blvd, Petaluma
Muir Memory Care, 750 N. McDowell Blvd, Petaluma
Iglesia Cristiana, 1129 Industrial Ave. No. 104, Petaluma
Napa Valley Expo, 575 Third St., Napa
CrossWalk Community Church Napa, 2590 First St., Napa
St. Mary's Cathedral, 1111 Gough St., San Francisco
The following shelters are full:
Petaluma Valley Baptist Church, 580 Sonoma Mountain Pkwy., Petaluma
Marin County Fairgrounds, 10 Ave. of the Flags, San Rafael
Petaluma Veterans Building, 1094 Petaluma Blvd S., Petaluma
Petaluma Fairgrounds, 100 Fairgrounds Dr., Petaluma
New Life Church, 2060 W. College Ave., Santa Rosa
Napa Valley College, 2277 Napa Vallejo Hwy., Napa
Calvary Chapel of Petaluma, 1955 S. McDowell Blvd, Petaluma
There are two shelters available for evacuees with large animals:
Alameda County Fairgrounds, 4501 Pleasanton Ave., Pleasanton
Petaluma Fairgrounds, 100 Fairgrounds Dr., Petaluma.
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