Reporting from Santa Rosa, Calif. — No place was more familiar to Brady Harvell than Mocha Lane.
He grew up in one of the houses lining the quiet street in Santa Rosa. As a kid, he spent countless hours cruising it on his bike, often ending up at nearby Coffey Park, where he first kissed a girl under the swing set.
He left to join the Army, and when he returned, his parents hung his dog tags from a photo of him in uniform on top of the television set in the living room.
But Tuesday, a day after wildfires laid waste to parts of Santa Rosa, Napa and other communities in wine country, everything Harvell knew — the house, Mocha Lane, the whole neighborhood — was gone, replaced by a black and gray landscape of charred houses, cars and trees.
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Harvell, 31, sifted through the rubble of his parents’ home with a small garden spade, looking for the dog tags and trying to make sense of what had happened.
“How do you put an entire neighborhood back together?” he wondered aloud, straightening up from his search to look around at the devastation. “It is so much more than just mortgages and appliances.”
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 Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park neighborhood.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times )
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Santa Rosa was left reeling from the Tubbs fire, which ignited in the hills above the city and rode fierce Diablo winds down into its streets. On Tuesday evening, the death toll from Northern California fires stood at 17, including 11 in Sonoma County. Hundreds of homes, along with schools and big-box stores, had been destroyed. Thousands of residents were in shelters and hotels after being forced to flee their homes and two hospitals.
Officials said the Tubbs fire — one of 17 burning in the state — had consumed 27,000 acres. Hundreds of firefighters continued battling the blaze as Tuesday brought a respite when winds eased.
But Ken Pimlott, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, cautioned that the wildfire was still very much a threat.
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“We are far from out of the woods,” Pimlott said. “We’ve got several days of fire weather conditions to come.”
Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano said his department had been deluged by nearly 250 missing-person reports from people unable to locate friends and family in the frantic hours after the fire swept into the city.
He said he expected that most, if not all, of the people were safe, attributing the confusion to communications difficulties, including disrupted cellphone service caused by downed signal towers. Many of the people forced to evacuate were in assisted living centers and were hard to reach, he said.
By midafternoon, a team of deputies had found 57 of the people who had been reported missing.
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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)
As the extent of the devastation became clear Tuesday, federal and state officials made emergency declarations needed to clear the way for additional assistance to be sent to the region — a well-worn routine in a state with a long history of wildfires.
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Vice President Mike Pence said in a visit to California’s emergency management headquarters that President Trump has approved a “major disaster declaration” for California. And more than 200 additional law enforcement personnel from outlying cities and counties, as well as the California National Guard, were called into the Santa Rosa region to assist with searches and to guard against looting, Giordano said.
The sheriff urged patience, saying many of the burned areas remained unsafe, with spot fires still burning and many downed power lines yet to be repaired.
“Getting people back in their homes soon is important to us as well, but the most important thing is keeping them safe,” he said. The remains of one of the dead were still in a home that was too hot to enter, he added.
Residents described a frantic race for survival late Sunday night and early Monday as winds blowing as high as 80 mph hurtled embers into housing developments, igniting spot fires that quickly exploded into full blazes.
“It just came through there, like a blowtorch,” said Eric Anderson, a local contractor, who described his narrow escape Sunday night from his home in the hills north of U.S. 101. “I saw fire trucks racing up ... then, five minutes later, I saw them racing down. I said, ‘Time to get out of here.’ ”
The fickleness of the fire left a lucky few wondering how they had been spared in neighborhoods that were largely destroyed.
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An American flag adorns a burned-out pickup truck in Santa Rosa, where fierce, dry winds whipped the Tubbs fire — one of 17 burning in the state — through residential areas.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times )
In the once-upscale neighborhood of Hidden Valley, Lance Thompson, 75, a retired real estate appraiser and longtime Santa Rosa resident, took in a scene of broken, blackened utility poles and large tangles of smoldering power lines. Some streets were blocked by yellow tape warning: “Police crime scene. Do not cross.”
Most of the homes were reduced to ashes, twisted metal and broken water pipes splashing onto heaps of charred crossbeams. In many places, the only things left standing were the skeletal trunks and limbs of scorched pine trees and dozens of lonesome chimneys. Thompson’s house was untouched.
“I just can’t believe this,” he muttered, shaking his head.
A few miles away, at the Journey’s End mobile home park for seniors, several sons and daughters returned to their parents’ homes to see what could be salvaged.
Almost all of the park’s 160 homes had been destroyed, though some on Sahara Street were still intact. The street, which abuts a hospital, seemed to be where firefighters had made a stand.
Carrie Reindahl said her mom and stepfather got out in time, awakened by the sound of their American flag whipping in the wind outside. By then, two trailers and a tree nearby were already on fire, Reindahl said.
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“They tried to wake up some neighbors, and they barely got out with the clothes on their back,” she said.
Todd McNeive, left, and his wife, Adelina McNeive, look for anything to salvage from the remains of their home in the Fountaingrove Village neighborhood of Santa Rosa.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times )
Reindahl managed to pull out her grandmother’s collection of porcelain Kewpie dolls from the rubble, though some of them had been broken.
“It’s just so devastating,” she said, looking at the wreckage of her mother’s home of 25 years. “She’s 85 and he’s 87. How do you start all over?”
Reindahl said her mom and stepdad had been able to drive out in their own car, but she echoed the worries of authorities who warned that the fires’ death toll could climb.
“A lot of them were really, really old,” she said of the park’s residents. “And trailers go up like a match.”
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Back on Mocha Lane, Harvell continued his seemingly futile search for his dog tags in the ashes of his parents’ house. A few blocks away, an older couple who had not had time to take anything when they escaped the coming fire searched for the only thing the man said they cared about — the urn holding their son’s ashes.
And Pam Hopkins sifted through the wreckage of her home with her stepson. Some of the few things she found were old baseball cards her late husband collected.
She said she was dumbfounded that a wildfire could level a suburban neighborhood far away from the woods. Her insurance company, she said, had rated her home as in one of the most fire-safe neighborhoods in Santa Rosa.
“We had a very tightknit community. On our cul-de-sac, we had barbecues and parties; if you needed anything, you just knocked on your neighbor’s door,” she said.
After two hours searching, Harvell reached into a pile of ash. “Got it! Oh my God! Got it!”
Marveling over the dirtied and bent dog tags in the palm of his hand, he said of the fire, “It took all our memories, except this one.”
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He then pulled his cellphone from his pocket and dialed a familiar number.
“Love you, Brady,” his father said from the other side of the line. “Love you, Dad,” Harvell replied.
The fire destroyed every keepsake in Brady Harvell’s childhood home but one — the Army dog tags he gave his dad in 2013.
(Louis Sahagun / Los Angeles Times )
Sahagun, Willon and Agrawal reported from Santa Rosa, and Rubin from Los Angeles.
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.”
Phil Willon is an assistant editor based in the Sacramento bureau of the Los Angeles Times and guides coverage of California politics and assists with state capital coverage.
Nina Agrawal is a former staff writer for the Los Angeles Times. She previously reported for WLRN-Miami Herald News and for the Latin American affairs magazine Americas Quarterly. A Southern California native, Agrawal is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and School of International and Public Affairs.
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.
