Checking the weather the Sunday before last, I saw that 50-mile-per-hour gusts were forecast. Oh, boy. In general, I love the wind. During the first few nights of my almost three months of sleeping in a tent this summer (yes, you read that right), the tent was buffeted above me as I lay comfortably in my sleeping bag. I remember falling asleep with a big grin on my face. It made me feel so vast, like my body’s interior volume had suddenly tripled. I loved that feeling. This time though, I had no idea that besides testing my tent-tie-down ability, these winds would be testing Wine Country's emergency response.
I decided to sleep inside that night and awoke that Monday to texts of “are you okay?” Never a good sign. The wildfire that started in the hills on the other side of Napa had leapt across the valley to ignite again near Santa Rosa and above my town of Sonoma. Tens of thousands of acres soon burned. One stray ember turned a season’s buildup of dry underbrush into an immense blaze.
I decided to sleep inside that night and awoke that Monday to texts of “are you okay?” Never a good sign. The wildfire that started in the hills on the other side of Napa had leapt across the valley to ignite again near Santa Rosa and above my town of Sonoma. Tens of thousands of acres soon burned. One stray ember turned a season’s buildup of dry underbrush into an immense blaze.
Very eerie smoke-filled air. No photo-editing on this one.
The air quickly became unbreathable. I went out Monday morning with this improvised mask and after only 10 minutes my eyes began to burn. I thought about what it would be like to live in Beijing or Mexico City where polluted air is a daily reality. One more thing I take for granted.
It has been a chaotic week. The blaze that leapt across the Napa Valley soon crested the hill between Napa and Sonoma and spread to within several hundred feet of my house. A raging wildfire, just a block from my home. Firefighters from multiple counties and states poured in with engines and huge dozers. The intersection nearest to my home made a fiery appearance on ABC7 News and my parents were forced to evacuate our home.
Fortunately, I happened to have scheduled a trip to New York City for Pilates, Gyrotonic, Alexander Technique, as well as visiting my brother in Manhattan, for the same day the evacuation orders came.
As soon as I landed at Newark, I learned my parents were packing up the house and within a minute of de-boarding I was directing my mom to pack my hard drives and my notebooks. What items did I really need? Which did I want? Which were OK to let burn, in case it came to that? These were not typical questions. The helplessness you feel under the threat of Nature’s power is humbling.
It was sheer luck that our home happened to be far enough away to be spared. It was also simply luck that I scheduled a trip during this time. I would have been very little help in hauling bags out to the cars, and the air, for once, was much cleaner in New York.
It has been a chaotic week. The blaze that leapt across the Napa Valley soon crested the hill between Napa and Sonoma and spread to within several hundred feet of my house. A raging wildfire, just a block from my home. Firefighters from multiple counties and states poured in with engines and huge dozers. The intersection nearest to my home made a fiery appearance on ABC7 News and my parents were forced to evacuate our home.
Fortunately, I happened to have scheduled a trip to New York City for Pilates, Gyrotonic, Alexander Technique, as well as visiting my brother in Manhattan, for the same day the evacuation orders came.
As soon as I landed at Newark, I learned my parents were packing up the house and within a minute of de-boarding I was directing my mom to pack my hard drives and my notebooks. What items did I really need? Which did I want? Which were OK to let burn, in case it came to that? These were not typical questions. The helplessness you feel under the threat of Nature’s power is humbling.
It was sheer luck that our home happened to be far enough away to be spared. It was also simply luck that I scheduled a trip during this time. I would have been very little help in hauling bags out to the cars, and the air, for once, was much cleaner in New York.
Flying over Oakland a few days after the fires started in the North San Francisco Bay.
As humans in cities we’re surrounded by 90-degree angles and glowing screens and it’s easy to feel apart from Nature. Neighborhoods disappearing in smoke and members of local communities losing their lives are painful reminders that we are anything but separate. We are tied to and dependent on the ecosystems around us, whether or not we want to be, or whether we respect our interrelation with the natural world.
I’m so thankful my family is safe, that our home is where it is and not a single block farther east, that I just happened to be across the country when we were evacuated, that firefighters have been able to do what they have to control the blaze around the North Bay.
I’m so thankful my family is safe, that our home is where it is and not a single block farther east, that I just happened to be across the country when we were evacuated, that firefighters have been able to do what they have to control the blaze around the North Bay.
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