Among recent natural disasters striking the U.S. are devastating wildfires that torched California’s wine country, destroyed thousands of homes and killed more than 40 people, report Dennis J Bernstein and Miguel Gavilan Molina.
The Tubbs neighborhood in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, one of the hardest hit by the recent fires in Northern California, looked like some of the worst bombed-out and scorched neighborhoods in Syria with little left standing other than a few red brick chimneys and the burnt-out shells of cars and heavy metal appliances.
A map of the 2017 Northern California wildfires from October 5 to October 12. (Wikipedia)
According to CalFire, the three largest fires in California’s Wine Country — the Tubbs, Atlas and Nuns — have burned more than 182,000 acres in Sonoma and Napa counties. The total number of houses and businesses destroyed is estimated at more than 5,700 buildings with a death count of more than 40 people. In the Tubbs Fire alone, 17 people died, making it among the deadliest fires in the state’s history.
Pacifica’s Flashpoints program broadcast live from the Arlene Francis Center in Santa Rosa with interviews with Santa Rosa City Council Member Julie Combs and Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore.
Dennis Bernstein: Let me first begin with you, Councilwoman Julie Combs. … Let’s start on a personal note. We were talking before we went on air and I was thinking it must be horrifying to have a tree fall on your house. But then you said….
Julie Combs: I’d rather have a tree than a fire. I was very lucky. I am okay but my heart is with my whole city and my whole city is still recovering.
Dennis Bernstein: Tell us some of the stories you have heard.
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