Fire Lessons From a Sonoma County Native Dealing With Disaster as a Student

Fire Lessons From a Sonoma County Native Dealing With Disaster as a Student Image via Pixabay Throughout the day and into the week, officials posted fire maps periodically with updated hot spots, but they were hard to interpret amidst the widespread panic pouring through social media. The severity of the fires increased faster than anyone could imagine. After just a few days, the federal government declared the Northern California fires to be a national emergency. The New York Times, NPR, LA Times and other renowned outlets were covering my town like I’d never seen before. Media-makers and newspapers used phrases like “apocalyptic” and “devastating” to describe the chaos taking place in Sonoma and Napa counties, and videos of my most frequented streets and locations in my little neighborhood resembled full-blown infernos. Historic landmarks were obliterated. The high winds that began these fires late Sunday night into Monday morning continued to exacerbate existing fires (and create new ones) by transporting embers through the air and setting them down in random places. For the past six days, I lived a scenario I called “Schrodinger’s house”: I had no idea at times whether my house was still standing or had already burned. I couldn’t believe that my best friend of 10+ years and I were having a text message conversation about whether our houses and streets (directly parallel to one another) would be there in the end. When my graduate school classmates at San Jose State University found out I was from Santa Rosa, they cringed and (understandably) offered confused condolences. No one was sure how to help. Not even I was sure how to help my town, my family or myself with a tragedy that nobody predicted to become so severe, much less happen at all. I began to think about how college students might respond to such a serious and unexpected natural disaster. While the phrase “appreciate what you have until it’s gone” always came across as cliche to me, I really understood it on October 9, 2017. Sonoma County, CAImage via Pixabay Over 10 of my former high school classmates, neighbors, and family friends lost their homes in the past six days, and 2.5-3 hours away from the scene, I watched my town crumble. But this was particularly shocking to deal with as a student. I want to share three takeaways for college students dealing with natural disaster or students across the country who want to support my town and my state in the midst of this devastation: 1. Do not underestimate the power of community For Northern Californians, the catastrophic fires that raged this past week have been perplexing, devastating, and awful at best but they certainly proved that “the love in the air is stronger than the smoke.” #sonomacountystrong and #wewillrebuild were just a few of the many hashtags that emerged out of this tragedy, uniting strangers across Facebook groups designed to connect residents with resources, donations, evacuation notices, and updates on the status of their homes. Community organizations and restaurants donated meals, entire stores full of product, and shelter to those displaced by the fires. Individuals worked tirelessly on the “Santa Rosa Firestorm Updates” group to quell people’s unrest and spread information as well as they could. Never had I been prouder of my hometown. It’s likely that students affected by other tragedies (Hurricane Harvey or Irma, for instance) may be able to relate to these sentiments in some way. College students should remember that the resilience of a community can lift individuals out of a dark place. Never question the potential for neighbors, friends, family, and strangers alike to help each other when disaster strikes. 2. Appreciate the people, not the products When I came across pictures of flame-engulfed houses just minutes away from my mother’s house, I began spiraling into questions: Which documents are in the house that I might need? Will I need to reorder my college diploma? What do I do if I lose the photo albums? All of this was concerning, of course. But the entity of highest value in the house my mother was safe. My message to students? If facing a natural disaster, it makes complete sense to worry about your belongings. As I said to my mother, who for the past week has tried to become okay with either outcome for the house, “even though you know you’d be okay if it was gone, it would be a lot more convenient for the house to still be there when you get back.” Nonetheless, all you really need is your people. Your friends or family are the most important, in the larger context. 3. Prepare for the unexpected, even if it seems distant or unlikely Sonoma County is accustomed to smaller fires popping up often in Northern California (usually, the further North you travel, the more often fires crop up, since the area is dense with trees). Despite this, my town did not think such a huge firestorm could erupt locally. My mother woke up Sunday night to a text from a friend letting her know there were fires in the area, but because we are so used to smelling smoke from the other fires further north, she went back to sleep. Hours later, as she awoke to the sounds of explosions and neighbors shouting at each other to flee, she realized that disaster was taking place. As college students, we preoccupy ourselves with courses, work, internships, professional development matters, and student organizations. These demands are immediate and routine for us. But we rarely think about what would happen if a fire, earthquake, hurricane, tornado or other storm were to run through our town. “Disaster doesn’t discriminate.” It can happen to anyone regardless of whether you believe you are a “good” person, whether you have the money to rebuild, or whether you live in the fanciest neighborhood in town. It happened to me, and it could happen to you; stay grateful, stay resourceful, and stay resilient if it does.