FUN AT PUMPKIN PATCH » Farm
in Healdsburg lures families with
gourds, carving and fall cheer. A3
z
JABIN BOTSFORD / WASHINGTON POST
President Donald Trump gestures
to supporters as he speaks at a
rally Saturday at the White House.
Trump
tapped
property
for cash
Tax data show president
benefited from over 200
entities patronizing sites
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE,
KAREN YOURISH, STEVE EDER
AND BEN PROTESS
NEW YORK TIMES
It was springtime at Presi-
dent Donald Trump’s Mar-a-
Lago club in Palm Beach, Flor-
ida, and the favor-seekers were
swarming.
In a gold-adorned ballroom
filled with Republican donors,
an Indian-born industrialist
from Illinois pressed Trump to
tweet about easing immigration
rules for highly skilled workers
and their children.
“He gave a million dollars,”
the president told his guests ap-
provingly, according to a record-
ing of the April 2018 event.
Later that month, in the club’s
dining room, the president wan-
dered over to one of its newer
members, an Australian card-
board magnate who had brought
along a reporter to flaunt his
access. Trump thanked him for
taking out a newspaper ad hail-
ing his role in the construction
of an Ohio paper mill and box
TURN TO TRUMP » PAGE A9
ELECTION 2020
Pennsylvania
key to Biden,
Trump race
By MICHAEL SCHERER
AND MICHELLE YE HEE LEE
WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON — Both par-
ties are increasingly focused on
the pivotal — and potentially
messy — role that Pennsylvania
could play in deciding the out-
come of the presidential race.
President Donald Trump’s
campaign in
ANALYSIS recent days
Trump’s push has redirect-
to indict political ed ad spend-
rivals takes page ing there
from playbook from other
of authoritarian northern bat-
leaders / B1 tle g rounds,
while Joe
Biden’s campaign and support-
ive groups are increasing their
spending in the state, which be-
tween its rolling rural expanses
and major metropolitan hubs is
seen as a classic political bell-
wether.
Both sides now see Pennsyl-
vania, with 20 electoral college
TURN TO RACE » PAGE A10
Business E1 Crossword T5
Classified E4 Forum B9
Community B8 Horoscopes T2
DO-OR-DIE TIME FOR 49ERS » Season
and fan interest may rest on win
against Dolphins, Nevius says. C1
REJUVENATING HIKES » 8 great trails
worth exploring in county can
reduce stress with nature’s help. D8
WINNER OF THE 2018 PULITZER PRIZE
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2020 • SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA • PRESSDEMOCRAT.COM
GLASS FIRE » WIDENING TOLL FOR COUNTY
Heartbreak, hope
uncovered in ashes
JOHN BURGESS / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
SIFTING THROUGH WRECKAGE: Wayne Reynolds, 81 and wife Caryn Fried, 72, sort through shattered, burned pottery at Valley of the Moon Pottery on Highway 12
near Melita Road. The ceramists also lost their home and Christmas tree farm on the 4-acre property, where they lived in for 32 years, to the Glass fire.
Families share challenges ahead after 3rd most destructive blaze in region
By AUSTIN MURPHY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
A
week after the Glass fire swept down
into the Sonoma Valley, Caryn Fried
watched a TV news segment on an el-
derly couple, a pair of artists who’d lost their
home and business to the flames.
Her heart went out to them. “I was like, Oh
my gosh this is so terrible, what’s happened to
these people!”
Those people, as it happened, were her and
her husband, whose house and business, Val-
ley of the Moon Pottery on Highway 12, were
destroyed in the fire.
So overwhelming was her loss, Fried fig-
ured, that she dealt with the news segment by
witnessing it “as an outsider looking in.”
“I’m kind of numb, to tell you the truth. I’m
having a hard time processing that everything
is gone.”
While not quite numb to wildfires, many in
Sonoma County have become inured as the KENT PORTER / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
catastrophes arrive with more regularity — a
dreadful tax paid to live here.
But even as it faded in intensity these past
VIEW FROM ABOVE: A burned patchwork has been left along the Highway 12 corridor at Oakmont,
which suffered severe damage from the Glass fire as it roared over the Mayacamas Mountains.
WILDFIRE’S ■ Images from fire zone ■ Light rain helps crews ■ Rude awakening for
TURN TO ASHES » PAGE A12 AFTERMATH show scorched scars / A11 tighten grip on fire / A12 underinsured victims / E1
Santa Rosa native takes on Big Tech
‘SOCIAL DILEMMA’ » Former Google exec delivers rected by Jeff Orlowsky, is re-
ported to have been its most
cautionary message on screen time that’s resonating highly watched film last month.
Certainly, it’s the most dis-
By PHIL BARBER This understated persona cussed at family dinner tables.
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT becomes incongruous over the It is quite a moment for Har-
next 90 minutes of the movie, ris, who spent his adolescent
“The Social Dilemma” begins during which Harris system- years in Santa Rosa.
quietly, with the film briefly atically applies an intellectual “I’ve been working on these
introducing many of the tech wrecking ball to the internet’s issues for seven or eight years,”
insiders whose interviews will biggest content providers, ex- Harris said in a recent phone
propel the narrative. The last posing the manipulative, addic- interview. “But this film is the
person to be named will turn tive methods Silicon Valley uses first time we’ve been able to
out to be the central figure in to keep your eyeballs on your clearly articulate the problem to
this Netflix Originals documen- screen. a global audience. I never would
tary. His name is Tristan Harris. His message seems to be res- have anticipated the global re-
SHAUGHN AND JOHN He has a slight build and a con- onating. Netflix hasn’t released sponse we’ve gotten.”
Tristan Harris exposes how the tained delivery, and his trim gin- its September rankings, and the Harris was already a promi-
internet giants use addictive ger beard and rolled-up sleeves subscription service carefully nent and sought-after voice in
methods to keep users engaged in create the vibe of your favorite guards its viewership numbers,
Netflix’s “The Social Dilemma.” high school math teacher. but “The Social Dilemma,” di- TURN TO TECH » PAGE A2
LeBaron T1 Sonoma Life D1 GIVING LOVE AND DIGNITY: Founder Moquete SANTA ROSA ©2020
Lottery A2 Smith A3 of Petaluma-based Una Vida knows what it’s High 83, Low 49 The Press
Democrat
Obituaries B4 Towns T1 like to need help during difficult times / T1 THE WEATHER, C8
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT • SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2020 A3

The North Coast

Many mail ballots already turned in
Elections office receives
thousands, hand-carried
or left in drop boxes
By GUY KOVNER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Sonoma County voters are
wasting no time with their bal-
lots for the Nov. 3 election as
residents continue to register
for their opportunity to weigh
in on a presidential election that
grows more contentious by the
day.
Ballots were mailed by the
county elections office Mon-
day to about 290,000 voters in
California’s first-ever all-mail
election, and by Friday up to
3,000 ballots had been hand-car-
ried to the office or retrieved
from the 20 drop boxes at public
buildings around the county.
Only eight ballots had come
back through the mail, but Deva
Marie Proto, the registrar of
voters, said mail return of the
ballots appeared to be operating
smoothly.
National polls and an infor-
mal online survey by The Press
Democrat indicate some vot-
ers are concerned about mail-
in voting, a process President
Donald Trump has repeatedly
said, without evidence, is open
to fraud.
New this year in California
is a statewide vote-tracking
system that will automatically
inform voters by email, text or
voice call when the county elec-
tions office has mailed, received
and counted their ballot and if
there were any issues with the
ballot.
Voters may sign up at
WheresMyBallot.sos.ca.gov.
Meanwhile, the roll of regis-
tered voters in Sonoma Coun-
ty has swelled to more than
296,000 people, a number Proto
expects will keep growing until
the 5 p.m. deadline on Oct. 19.
Everyone who registers by
then will be sent a ballot, she
said.
Those who miss that dead-
line can go to any one of the
30 voting locations that will be
staffed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from
Oct. 31 to Nov. 2 and from 7 a.m.
to 8 p.m. on Election Day.
For a list of the ballot drop box
and voting locations in Sonoma
County, go to sonomacounty.
TURN TO ELECTIONS » PAGE A4

PUMPKIN PATCH » HALLOWEEN RITUAL

Tibbetts
alone on
ballot for
reelection
SANTA ROSA » Council member
faces write-in challenger Keith
Rhinehart, perennial candidate
By WILL SCHMITT
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Jack Tibbetts is one of four Santa Rosa

council members whose term expires
this year, and among the two who are
seeking reelection, is the lone incumbent
unopposed on the ballot, easing his path
to a second four-year term.
Tibbetts, the top vote-getter in the 2016
election, does face a write-in challenge
from Keith Rhinehart, a former UPS su-
pervisor and substitute teacher who ran
unsuccessfully for City Council in 2014
and the Board of Supervisors in 2016,
ALVIN A.H. JORNADA / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
2014 and 2012.
The two are vying to represent the

Gourd afternoon
Tasha Lopez of Forestville and her daughter, Maya, 4, pick out a good pumpkin at Foggy River Farm near Healdsburg on Saturday. newly formed District 3, taking in east-
ern Santa Rosa, stretching from Oak-
mont to Rincon Valley and including
the homes south of Howarth and Spring
Lake parks east of Summerfield Road. It
is one of seven districts created as part
of the city’s transition from at-large elec-
tions to district-based contests for City
Council.

Appointments, social distancing make for pandemic-friendly fun Jack Tibbetts

Tibbetts, the 30-year-old executive di-
By DIANE PETERSON by Emmett Hopkins of Forestville and field in which to wander. rector of Sonoma County’s St. Vincent de
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT his sister, Whitney Hopkins of Healds- “We planted everything with social Paul Society, acknowledged the political

P
umpkins wearing masks greeted
families Saturday to the Foggy
River Farm’s first Pumpkin Patch,
a gentle reminder for visitors to don
their masks and socially distance while
picking out their future jack-o’-lanterns.
The rectangular patch punctuated
by two small cornfields offers carving
pumpkins in three sizes grown from seed
burg, on their family’s property on
Eastside Road.
Cooler temperatures and a gentle
sprinkle of rain Saturday greeted dozens
of families, most of whom had made
reservations in order to limit the amount
of people on the farm at one time.
Emmett and his sister greeted visitors
to the patch and assigned them a num-
ber corresponding to a section of the
distancing in mind, so when people
walked across the field, they would not
run into each other,” Emmett said.
Many of the folks who came to the
pumpkin patch on Saturday said they
were attracted to the no-frills, traditional
family farm this year so they didn’t have
to be around crowds.
TURN TO PUMPKIN » PAGE A5
reality that even if he and Councilman
Chris Rogers win reelection, the City
Council will see at least two new faces
this year — Councilmen Dick Dowd and
Ernesto Olivares are not running and
their terms are up.
With that in mind, Tibbetts said he’s
running to ensure that a changing council
TURN TO TIBBETTS » PAGE A4

These residents stood against the Glass fire

By CHRIS SMITH
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
CHRIS SMITH or texting now and then with
her two younger sons as they

I
will avoid calling them
heroes.
That may or may not
satisfy those who believe we
should not be acknowledging,
and for sure not glorifying,
civilians who didn’t evacuate
ahead of the Glass fire but
stood to fight it.
Besides, it seems that people
like brothers Eric and Shawn
Pedersen and the other citizen
firefighters credited with saving
homes and — who knows —
perhaps neighborhoods, don’t
seek accolades.
“It was just doing what we
do,” said Shawn Pedersen, a
Piner High alum who’s 32 and
works for a structural engi-
neering firm. He; his brother,
a 36-year-old construction
worker; and four friends spent
the first night of the Glass fire
dousing ember flareups in dry
grass and hosing down fences,
roofs and other surfaces on
homes along Calistoga Road
near Maria Carrillo High
School.
One of the homes in peril was
that of the Pedersen brothers’
parents, Viola and Don, who on
the night of Sept. 27 were away
on vacation with their third
son, Patrick.
“I’m in Mexico, watching
everything on the Ring (home
security) camera,” Viola Peder-
sen said. She also was talking
grabbed fire extinguishers and
hoses.
“I’m a mom, so I wanted them
to leave,” she said.
But today Viola Pedersen
has heard from the neighbors
certain her sons saved their
homes, and also from Eric and
Shawn themselves about how
they resolved to stay and defend
the houses only as long as they
felt safe.
“They looked at it, and they
knew what they were doing,”
Viola said.
Her son, Shawn, lives on the
west side of Santa Rosa but on
that harrowing Sunday night
was house sitting for her and
his dad. CHRIS SMITH / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Shawn thinks it was about The Pedersen brothers and their friends defended this area of Calistoga
Road near Badger Road and Hoyal Drive in east Santa Rosa from the
TURN TO SMITH » PAGE A5 Glass fire.

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THE PRESS DEMOCRAT • SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2020 NORTH COAST A5

“We knew we were the gatekeepers for that neighborhood.”

ERIC PEDERSEN, who along with his brother, Shawn, and some friends defended houses from the Glass fire

SMITH were the gatekeepers for

CONTINUED FROM A3
8:30 when he noticed
trouble.
“I was watching foot-
ball,” he recalled. “I
happened to go out front
and noticed the hill across
the street (to the east, the
hillside into which Maria
Carrillo seniors carve
their graduation years).
“It was really, really red
right above it.”
Shawn hustled across to
the east side of the road to
alert the neighbors in the
two homes there. There
are no homes directly
alongside his parents’
place.
Shawn texted his mom
and told her about the
fiery glow above the hill.
She thought, not again.
Her and Don’s home was
only narrowly missed by
the Tubbs fire.
Said her son, Shawn,
“We weren’t prepared
for the 2017 fire, but we
were prepared this time.”
His mother directed him
where to find the things
that were most important
to save.
Shawn gave a quick call
to brother Eric, who was
at home near the county
fairgrounds.
“I didn’t even know this
fire was happening,” Eric
said. He recalled telling
Shawn, “That’s all the way
over in St. Helena. Don’t
Shawn Pedersen, left, and his brother, Eric, defended houses
in east Santa Rosa from the Glass fire.
worry about it.”
Shawn asked him to
come to their folks’ place
so Eric started that way,
expecting that nothing
would happen.
The brothers watched
the fire crest the hill and
roll toward Calistoga Road
and them.
Said Shawn, “It was the
craziest thing I’ve seen in a
long time.”
He and Eric got to work
gathering their parents’
multiple fire extinguishers
and hoses. Eric paused
PEDERSEN FAMILY
when his friend, Eddie
Alvarez, phoned to ask if
he and his folks were OK.
Eric told him what was
going on. Alvarez, a farm-
er and businessman cur-
rently running for Santa
Rosa City Council, headed
that way with his brother
and two cousins.
“I can’t thank them
enough,” Eric said. “They
stayed and they helped all
night. Me and my brother
alone wouldn’t have been
able to do what we did.”
He added, “We knew we
that neighborhood.”
They were not alone. It
heartened the men to see
a bulldozer cut a firebreak
well up the hillside. But a
bit later, Shawn said, “the
wind shifted and all of a
sudden this one big tree
(below the firebreak) went
up.”
“Once that tree caught
fire, embers flew.”
Firefighters arrived,
but the Pedersen brothers
and their friends felt that
they needed to stay on and
do whatever they could
to prevent flying embers
from igniting the houses
they were defending.
Throughout the night,
they trained hoses and
sprinklers on Don and
Viola Pedersen’s home and
the two just across Calisto-
ga Road. They ran into the
field of grass at the foot of
the hillside to douse spot
fires there.
Had fire swept that
entire field, it would have
threatened not only the
three primary homes the
men were defending but
others along Hoyal Drive,
immediately to the south.
“If we weren’t there to
put out those little spot
fires, who knows what
might have happened,”
Shawn said.
The situation was look-
ing better when Alvarez
and his relatives left some-
time before 5 a.m. Monday.
The Pedersen brothers
stayed on until 6:30. Eric
said he left “with a new-
found respect for firefight-
ers.”
firestorms precautions
with the purchase of a
1,500-gallon firetruck from
At the same time, he a dairy farmer in west
said he’s convinced that Marin County.
given California’s new Bjarne told the San
firestorm reality, if one Francisco Chronicle, “It’s
is able and equipped and an early Christmas pres-
prepared to take a stand ent for my wife.”
only while it appears to be
safe, “we need to protect ON ST. HELENA
our own.” ROAD, between Calistoga
Road and the town of St.
AROUND THE HILL Helena, rancher Vincent
to the right, toward the Martin on Sept. 28 spotted
beleaguered St. Fran- the encroaching fire and
cis Acres and Skyhawk he hastened to his nearly
developments, neighbors 50-year-old John Deer 550
of the remarkable Bjarne bulldozer.
Hansen are feeling behold- Also helping to ignite a
en to him. blast of cellphone warn-
Formerly a bodyguard to ings to hundreds of his
the queen of Denmark and well-organized neighbors,
a logger and world sailor, Vinnie used his dozer and
Bjarne lives just below the help of his son, Justin,
the cross of whitewashed and two friends to cut a
rocks. Spotting the fire, he 12-foot firebreak about 2
activated his impressive miles long between the fire
precautionary measures. and about 40 homes.
Joined by winemaker There are neighbors
friend Brendan Malm, he who speak of having no
connected hoses to two doubt their houses would
hydrants and prepared to be gone were it not for
draw water also from his what those four did.
pool and a 5,000-gallon A reporter for ABC 7
water tank. News asked Vinnie if he
Working alongside fire- considers himself a hero.
fighters who arrived, Bja- His reply: “No, I’m just a
rne and Brendan helped guy. A bulldozer operator
to stop the flames short doing my job. You know
of homes on and near La when times get tough the
Cuesta Drive. Residents tough get going, and that’s
say the pair played large what we did.”
roles in the successful de-
fense of the neighborhood. You can reach Staff Writer
A few days into the Chris Smith at 707-521-
first week of the Glass 5211 and chris.smith@
fire, Bjarne expanded his pressdemocrat.com.

PUMPKIN
CONTINUED FROM A3
“It’s been fun having all the differ-
ent families,” said Whitney. “We get
a range of both local and faraway
families, and we do take drop-ins.”
Kathleen Paclibar and her sister
brought their children to the pump-
kin patch after driving two hours
from Elk Grove south of Sacramento.
“We wanted something low-key
and not too busy,” Paclibar said.
“We’re taking fall pictures.”
“I like that it’s a small farm,” said
Rosie Favila of Santa Rosa, who
brought her 12-year-old daughter,
Alyssa. “It was actually a very nice
drive, and we stopped on Piner Road
for doughnuts.”
While pulling a cart full of carving
pumpkins, mini-pumpkins, gourds
and butternut squash to the car,
Favila said her family was going to
celebrate the autumnal holiday with
a seasonal dinner, pumpkin-carv-
ing, games and a movie such as the
1993 Walt Disney witch flick “Hocus
Pocus.”
"Our plan this year is very mellow,
but we’re still dressing up,“ she said.
”We’re still going to have fun, and the
candy situation is not a big deal ...
as long as we can be together, that’s
what I care about.“
Brianna Nunes of Santa Rosa
brought her 3-year-old son, Arlo, to
pick out some pumpkins from the
field.
“Can we get some corn?” Arlo
asked, while admiring the ears of
black popping corn and red and
yellow grinding corn that were also
grown as seasonal decorations.
“We’re grateful to have a little
rain,” Nunes said. “And to have a
fall-like day.”
Lisa Gallaher of Healdsburg de-
cided to bring her almost-3-year-old
son, Logan, to the farm after passing
it by many times on their way to look
at airplanes at Charles M. Schulz
Anna Steward, 2, of Windsor smiles as her mother, Megan, helps her pick up a
pumpkin on her first trip to the pumpkin patch at Foggy River Farm on Saturday.
Sonoma County Airport.
Logan, who was dressed in match-
ing raincoat and boots, was excited
about picking out a few pumpkins
but even more thrilled to get up close
and personal with the tractors on the
farm.
For Halloween, Gallaher said
they would all dress up at home and
arrange a trick-or-treat hunt in the
backyard, with plastic eggs filled with
candy and little toys.
“Logan is so little he doesn’t quite
understand Halloween,” she said.
“But I wanted to decorate early so
that we could have more of the Hal-
loween spirit.”
Emmett Hopkins, who is married
to Sonoma County 5th District Super-
visor Lynda Hopkins, said he came
up with the pumpkin patch idea after
deciding to transition to part-time
work in order to have more time with
his kids. Then the pandemic hit.
“So it ended up being more full
time with the kids,” he said. “I want-
ed to get them more involved with
the farm, and we’ve been growing a
sharing garden.”
The pumpkin patch idea, which
the family plans to make an annual
tradition, originated with a harvest
festival Emmett used to throw in the
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Children Home by
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ALVIN A.H. JORNADA / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
DONATE YOUR VEHICLE TODAY!
fall for members of the Foggy River
Farm’s former Community Support- 1-800-753-0442
ed Agriculture, or CSA, program.
“There’s not a ton of pumpkin
farms like this,” he said. “At least
half get the pumpkins shipped in.”
In addition to the carving pump-
kins, the farm offers mini gourds
with “warts and wings,” mini “jack “Fireplace Makeover Experts”
be little” pumpkins, turban squash
and edible pumpkin and squash
varieties like butternut, kabocha,
spaghetti and delicata.
Last weekend, there were several
cancellations on Friday and Saturday
because of poor air quality from the
smoke generated by the Glass fire.
“It’s been challenging,” Emmett
said. “October is the month for
pumpkin patches, and October is the Before After
month for smoky air.” Brick and Rock Cover-Ups, Plumbing,
But the farmer wasn’t worried that
a little rain would keep people away. Electrical, Tile and Mantels.
“Today we have a new challenge Outdoor fireplaces and kitchens, too!
of keeping everyone dry,” he joked. Decks, Fencing, etc.
“What is this stuff?”
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THE PRESS DEMOCRAT • SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2020 A11

IN IMAGES » DESTRUCTION OF GLASS FIRE

Landscapes left
Fir trees have been reduced to branchless, blackened poles by the ferocious flames of the Glass fire.

scarred by blaze

PHOTOS BY KENT PORTER / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Firefighters made a stand on Night Hawk Drive, bottom, losing a number of homes but also saving hundreds to the west, as embers from the Glass fire landed in vegetation surrounding
the houses. Sunhawk Drive, at top, was also heavily defended as the wildfire charted a path of destruction to the west and north.

Ashes create
a footprint
Wednesday of
homes razed
by the Glass
fire east of
Oakmont in
Santa Rosa.

A charred, grooved landscape has been left on Neal Creek Vehicles line a property on Cougar Lane off Los Alamos Road
Road in Napa County after the fire burned hilltop vineyards. that was burned in September during the Glass fire.
A12
PHOTOGRAPHING DAMAGE: Jay Gamel, longtime publisher and editor of the Kenwood Press, takes pictures of what remains of the home he has owned for nearly 50 years on Adobe Canyon Road. While his home
was lost, his studio only 20 yards away was spared when the Glass fire raged through the area near Sugarloaf Ridge State Park.
Drizzle helps
crews gain
upper hand
on Glass fire
By AUSTIN MURPHY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
On an overcast, humid day that saw
trace amounts of rain in some parts of
the North Bay, firefighters continued
to gain ground against the Glass fire
Saturday. Crews are now monitoring
flare-ups and mopping up hot spots in
the 2-week-old blaze, which has burned
67,484 acres and is now 86% contained
— up 8 percentage points from Friday.
The Glass fire destroyed 338 homes in
Sonoma County and 308 in Napa Coun-
ty — a number not expected to go up. In
another indication that the fire is well
in hand, Cal Fire’s damage inspections
teams finished their work Friday.
Cal Fire crews continued with “tacti-
cal patrolling,” responding to calls from
concerned citizens reporting “smolders,
smoke, hot spots here and there,” said Er-
ick Hernandez, agency spokesman.
Residents who witness such hot spots
are encouraged to call 911.
“We have engines in the area, and
we’ll send someone out to take a look.”
If it turns out to be nothing — some
people have called in to report smoke
that turned out to be steam — “that’s
OK,” said Hernandez.
Some calls came in Saturday from the
area of Greenfield Road, north of Lake
Hennessey, he said, and Old Lawley Toll
Road, a few miles north of Calistoga. In
more rural areas, National Guard units
have been sending up drones to check
for flare-ups. Minor flare-ups continue to
occur in Napa County, chiefly in the area
east of Highway 29, west of Butts Canyon
and northeast of Etna Springs, where “the
topography is difficult,” said Hernandez.
Saturday’s high humidity, he said, “is
definitely assisting us.”
While some light, drizzling rain was re-
ported, it was “very, very minor,” he said.
As of 4 p.m. Saturday, said National
Weather Service meteorologist Duane
Dykema, after consulting “our hy-
dro database that shows precipitation
amounts,” Santa Rosa had no measur-
able rainfall so far.
Light amounts of rain did fall else-
where in the area: 0.01 inch in Bodega
Bay overnight, 0.04 inch atop Mount St.
Helena, and 0.04 inch at a weather sta-
tion 4 miles southwest of St. Helena, on
the Sonoma-Napa county border.
While meteorologists had predicted
more significant rains for this weekend,
“our computer models really backed
off” those predictions a few days later,
Dykema said.
The scant rain that did fall Saturday
will do little to wet fuels that feed wild-
fires. While the drizzle would dampen
“finer fuels, like grass,” he said, “that
won’t last long.”
By Sunday afternoon, humidity will
begin to drop very quickly, kicking off a
week of warmer, drier weather.
By midweek, said Dykema, “we’ll
have highs in the upper 80s, mid-90s,
and very low humidity once again.”
Of greater concern are the winds
from the north expected to accompany
this warming, drying trend.
Those winds are expected to “may-
be be getting a little stronger around
Wednesday night, Thursday morning.”
Whether they’ll be strong enough to
warrant red flag warnings is still uncer-
tain, Dykema said.
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT • SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2020
PHOTOS BY JOHN BURGESS / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
FINDING WHAT’S LEFT: Maya Reynolds comforts her father, Wayne Reynolds, as they walk past the burned remains of their Christmas tree farm and Valley of
the Moon Pottery business, which was destroyed by the Glass fire. Reynolds and his wife, Caryn Fried, also lost their home of 32 years.
ASHES for California with a back-
pack. That was in 1975.
“I wanted to just concen-
CONTINUED FROM A1 trate on my pottery and just
start my life over again.”
few days and more evacuation “And it feels like that’s
orders were lifted, the Glass exactly what’s happening all
fire was already an outlier in over again: I’m starting over.
the grim continuum of infer- But this time I’m 72.”
nos to ravage the county since
2017 — the third most destruc- 'Blessed’ despite losses
tive wildfire in its history. The 100-foot Douglas fir had
It has claimed at least 338 snapped at its base during
homes in the county — more the firestorm, crashing down
houses combined than the across Jay Gamel’s property
giant Kincade fire last year just off Adobe Canyon Road,
(174) and the Walbridge (157) shearing off a corner of the
fire this year, and fewer only roof covering his studio, but
than the twin terrors of 2017, otherwise doing no damage.
the Nuns and Tubbs fires, SALVAGED CERAMICS: Reynolds finds an intact ceramic jar among the While that stand-alone
which together destroyed broken pieces of pottery in the rubble at Valley of the Moon Pottery. studio was spared, Gamel’s
5,334 homes in the county and house, 20 yards away, burned
killed 24 people. close friends, of the renowned of their own works and to the ground.
In a cruel but predictable master potter and ceramic equipment, they lost all of A week after the fire, Gamel
turn, the Glass fire climbed artist Marguerite Wildenhain, the art they’d purchased sat on the trunk of that same
over and through the Mayac- who lived and taught at Pond and displayed in their home, evergreen as if it were a park
amas Mountains from Napa Farm. After two summers including a collection of bench, ticking off all the differ-
County into Sonoma County of her intense, three-month Wildenhain’s pottery, the loss ent ways he felt “blessed.”
between the burn scars of programs, Reynolds dropped of which brought Reynolds to The main house, he told a
those 2017 fires, laying waste out of college. “I realized tears during an interview. pair of State Farm adjusters,
to much in its path. what I wanted to do was make And the fire took still more. was “just sticks” to him. The
No lives were taken in this pottery.” “The thing that hit me hard- things he really valued —
fire, but the roll call of prop- So he has, for nearly est,” he said, “was the loss of books, computer, old photos
erty losses kept mounting. 60 years. Fried, for her part, our creative life. We work in and other mementos — were
These are the stories of three has been making pottery our studios all the time. I had safe in the studio.
of the 338 homes left in ruins. for 45 years. “She also does all these projects, ideas.” And And Captain Midnight was
beautiful sculptures,” he said. the inability to work in that OK.
Starting over again Some of those large pieces, space now “is really hitting That’s the name of the
Spry and vital though he standing sentinel outside their me.” black cat that wandered out
is for an 81-year-old, Wayne house and main studio, were Fried agreed, then shared of the woods after the Nuns
Reynolds is nursing a bad spared from the flames. her fear that they’ve lost “an fire burned through this same
back. Fried, 72, has had a rod After selling their wares on extended family” of thousands canyon three years earlier.
in her wrist since fracturing the streets, among other plac- of people who cycle through Though not a cat person at
it last spring in a badminton es, they saved enough to buy the property every year, for the time, Gamel adopted the
mishap. As a result, the couple a home in 1987 on 3.8 acres of classes or Christmas trees or Captain. And now, he said,
didn’t pack much in their car land along Highway 12, on the just to shop. “People who know me know
when the evacuation order outskirts of Santa Rosa. As They’re eager to rebuild, you don’t mess with my cat.”
came down for the neighbor- Valley of the Moon Pottery though their insurance, they The people who know him
hood along Highway 12 late became more established, fear, may limit their ability to in Sonoma County seem to
Sept. 27, a Sunday night. they added buildings: a studio, come back. outnumber those who don’t.
Caryn did grab the photo a showroom, another studio, Meanwhile, they’ve lost Gamel, 76, is the longtime
album of their wedding. They a pumphouse to irrigate the their home, sanctuary, gath- editor and publisher of the
were married 41 years ago in Christmas trees they planted ering place. The property, said Kenwood Press, the well re-
Armstrong Woods State Nat- on 2½ of those acres. Fried, “was our total life.” garded community newspaper
ural Preserve, at Pond Farm, They remodeled a garage, More than four decades serving Kenwood, Glen Ellen
whose pottery buildings are turning it into a classroom ago, after teaching school in and Oakmont.
on the National Register of where Fried has taught pot- Michigan for five years, she A former editor for CCH
Historic Places. tery for nearly three decades. had given away most of her
Both were students, then In addition to thousands possessions and then set out TURN TO TOLL » PAGE A13
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT • SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2020 A13

TOLL
CONTINUED FROM A12
Publications, Gamel traded
Chicago for the Bay Area in
1972. “The day I drove up this
canyon,” he recalled, looking
up at canopy above his home at
the foot of Sugarloaf Ridge State
Park, “I thought, ’This is where
I want to live for the rest of my
life.’ ”
He and his ex-wife were rent-
ing there in the late ’70s when a
neighbor — a pot dealer, busted
by the FBI and headed to prison
— asked him, “You want to buy
a house cheap?”
Gamel did. That house was
threatened by the Nuns fire, but
saved by firefighters. Underin-
sured at the time, Gamel beefed
up his coverage at his agent’s
advice — a decision that would
prove expensive to State Farm,
he cheerfully pointed out to his
adjusters, who were good sports
about it.
Gamel is unsure if he’ll
rebuild. If he does, it will be a
smaller place for “a bachelor,”
as he calls himself. When he
sells the property, as he intends
to, eventually, he fears the new
owners will just tear down his CHRISTOPHER CHUNG / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
place and start over. At the mo- PLANNING TO REBUILD: Allison Sanford, third from left, and Patrick Emery, second right, and dog Lola lost their home along Plum Ranch Road during the Glass fire. They
ment, he’s undecided. are particularly disappointed for their grandchildren Adam Klein, 9, from left, Sylvie Klein, 4, Kate Price, 18, and Ellie Price, 16, who loved to explore their ranch.
In the meantime, the adjuster
told him, State Farm would call 11 p.m. on Sept 27. He’d spent of the Sonoma Land Trust, “it Emery, he’d long felt con- within a few miles. Did he be-
a housing vendor to help him the previous two hours watching made me think, well, maybe strained by cities. “From the lieve it was just a matter of time
find a long-term rental. the Glass fire advance south and everything’s going to be OK.” time I left home” — he attended before wildfire arrived on Plum
That would be great, he replied, east along a nearby ridge. Her work with the land trust Harvard, then UC Davis law Ranch Road?
“Although I’m pretty sure I’ll find Around 10 pm, he recalled, “It is now bound, inextricably, with school — “I never felt comfort- “No,” Emery replied. “I think
something, ‘cause I’ve got every- was like somebody said ‘Column fire. A number of its properties able, until I moved here.” I was in denial. I just assumed
body in town looking for me.” right, MARCH,’” — recounted under conservation easements Their aerie has jaw-dropping it would miss me again. I still
“I’m tellin’ ya, I am a blessed Emery, a former Army reserv- have in recent years burned — views of Mount St. Helena to the believe I was born under a lucky
man.” ist — “and it started heading along with the homes of their north and the Marin Headlands, star.”
toward Oakmont.” owners. Another board member 60 miles south. “From here,” he He and Sanford will rebuild.
Nature comes back And toward his house, which also lost a house. said, looking west, “we see the “Sonoma County’s got its
High on a ridge east of Santa burned in the night. “What gives me great hope,” fog bank come in, every night.” problems,” and fire is a big one,
Rosa, Patrick Emery walked During a tour of their she said, “is how nature comes He was standing at the edge of he said. But they’ve traveled
past the skeletons of his burned scorched property last week, back.” an 18,000-gallon pool that might extensively, in this country and
fruit trees — lemon, orange, Emery and Sanford were have served as an ideal source abroad, “and there’s no place I’d
plum, persimmon — and remarkably upbeat. They made Luck runs out of water for a pumper truck the rather be than here.”
stopped at the scorched remains each other smile — as when San- While the survival of that night of the fire. They have friends considering
of a tractor. ford stood in the rubble of what heritage oak filled her with But no such truck arrived, a move to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.
“There’s my John Deere,” he had once been the kitchen and joy, Sanford was less pleased to said Emery, without bitterness. Emery has pointed out to them
lamented, like Hamlet talking to said “I don’t think I’m going to to see that the fire had spared He and Sanford know that fire that the largest wildfire in U.S.
the skull of Yorick. find my grandmother’s dishes.” the invasive yellow star thistle crews were stretched thin, val- history, the so-called Big Burn
Emery’s diction, spare yet They spent far more time fo- lining the driveway. No less iantly defending more populous of 1910, which consumed 3 mil-
eloquent — think of actor cusing on what hadn’t been lost, resilient, to her husband’s dis- neighborhoods below. Had the lion acres and took 87 lives, did
Jimmy Stewart — has served and what could be saved. At the may, were the gophers that had fire struck during daylight much damage in Coeur d’Alene.
him well as one of Santa Rosa’s top of that list: a massive oak, excavated dozens of fresh holes hours, he added, “they’d have “Everything you do, every
best known trial attorneys over two centuries old by Sanford’s near the house, all post-inferno. been able to lay a line of retar- place you go, there’s risk.”
the past four decades. He and reckoning, whose boughs have Emery took those depredations dant across this whole ridgeline,
his wife, Allison Sanford, moved long been a magnet for their six personally. and probably save a number of You can reach Staff Writer Aus-
into their dream house at the grandchildren. “I go to war with those go- homes.” tin Murphy at 707-521-5214 or
end of Plum Ranch Road on the “When Pat told me that tree phers 365 days a year,” he said. Fortune had favored Emery austin.murphy@pressdemocrat.
Fourth of July, 1995. Emery said made it,” said Sanford, who Raised outside of Placerville, and his neighbors three years com or on Twitter
goodbye to that place around leads the board of directors “way out in the country,” said ago, when the Tubbs fire came @ausmurph88.

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