Elizabeth Davis interview on the 2017 Tubbs Fire, April 14, 2023

OK. Interview number three is Elizabeth Davis and I'm going to start with interview questions. Um Where were you when the tubs fire hit in 2017? I was located in Santa Rosa California under the supervision of a treatment center called Athena House, which was I was technically

in jail because if you left the program, you were going straight back to jail. So it was a treatment program, jail alternative. Yeah. So it was a vulnerable population because you weren't welcome to just run off. Um Have you ever experienced a traumatic natural disaster before

that fire before the 2017? No. Yeah. I I remember the earthquake of 89 but that was nothing like this. Um So was it difficult for you to contact family members during this time? It was um sometimes difficult. Yes, because uh we were evacuated to the Sonoma

County Fairgrounds where of phone access was severely limited because for me especially we been in the treatment center, we were not allowed to have cell phones. So on the night of October 8th, you were at the Athena House. Did you immediately know there was a fire?

How were you told about the fire. It was approximately three o'clock in the morning. When I woke up, I was one of four girls in our room and I was the only one awake. I noticed that the, um, we had the french doors open and I

noticed the wind was blowing significantly and I smelled smoke. I looked outside and it was like, I was involved in a large barbecue party that I didn't know I was at. And then we, uh, I heard some voices down below saying we have to get out

of here. Um, as we were looking out the windows on the, um, of the facility building, there was fire everywhere on the hills. The traffic on highway 12 was bumper to bumper. Um, we, when we did load up into vans, um, you know, we only had

a few minutes to grab stuff that we needed and, um, when we were loaded up in the vans, you could see the absolute insanity happening everywhere because people had pigs and chickens and dogs and cats and you name it in their cars and everybody had this

frantic sense of urgency about them. There was fire police. The, the pills were on fire in every direction. It was, wow, it was a, it, that kind of thing. It's very different. Um, vulnerable population at my other interviews were incarcerated and saw nothing. So hearing you

tell it, that's where I was too. So I, we saw nothing. We saw ash. And smoke and the glow of orange out the window. So, during the time of the tubs fire, did you have responsibilities at the Athena House? Did you do like services or anything

like, or classes or anything? Yeah. Well, part of that treatment program required you to get up exercise, um, participate in making if it was your day or of the week, breakfast, lunch or dinner. Um, we would then, um, so structured, It was very structured. It was,

every hour it was accounted for. We had, um, classes in which we would, um, talk about addiction and, or, um, troubles that brought us to where we were. Yeah. The reason I asked the question is because then it must have been quite a difference and maybe

a shock to then go to a place where all these people are evacuated and there's no structure and I'm sure there was a little bit of insanity in there. One girl did leave, leave the, I heard about if you left you were in violation. Yes, you'd

be, you'd be arrested and go to jail but she went off and, um, I don't know how long she was on the run, so to speak, but she did eventually get put back in jail. But, uh, some people, um, saw it as an opportunity to go

back and use and, or just get away from the Athena house because that place was miserable. Yeah, I, I, it was worse than jail. Well, yeah, I could, I would think so. In jail the showers and the food was better. So, um, ok, this is kind

of a big question. Do you think of yourself as one way before the fires in a different way? Now, did it change you in any way? Like it did, it prompted me to buy the truck that you see in my front yard. Um, it did make

me, uh, I bought fire safe bags for my pictures and documents. Um, I have since been evacuated. Uh, three times total. 17 and, uh, was it 17, 19 and 2020? Yeah. And so, um, when the wind has picked up and the smell of smoke was in

the air one night. Um, I was in my backyard sitting right where we are sitting now and I just had a sense that we were gonna get told to evacuate. So I told my daughter, I said you need to pack a bag and go and she

wasn't listening to me fine. I said, no, you need to back a bag and go. Well, I had an empty tank of gas and I never have an empty tank of gas and we get in the car and we go and all of a sudden I

see that I'm on the orange, empty light is on and traffic is backed up on 12 bumper to bumper and I've got to make it to Sonoma and that was frightening because there was a fire. Yeah. Yeah, I was thinking about where you're located. You would

have been hit by all of those. In 17, the fire in 17, 4 blocks next to my house went down. So this, the street was spared. But over in that direction, um, it was a house here. 234 or five houses there, there was a lot of

houses lost over in that direction. So, you were there to worry about your mom and your daughter because it was close. It's just so close. Yeah, in 17, when I was at the, um, the vets building, we were, you know, information was not, not readily available,

but I didn't know what was happening with our house until, you know, several days later. So, was anyone helpful during this, the time that you guys were evacuated and you had your fears? And yeah, actually the fairgrounds, uh, was actually done pretty well except for, they

only had one or the bathrooms went to hell in about a week. That was disgusting. Um, they had one mobile shower unit but what was really traumatic was the military presence. They had more military and state police and troopers walking around with guns. You name it.

They, that, that uh first night or so when things are still burning, um, I looked up in the sky and I saw something shoot up into the air and explode and I think that was the night the gun shop in Santa Rosa exploded and, oh, I

don't know if that's the, that's what it was. But, um, things were really, so they were really the po, the, the police and military presence was traumatic. You know, the news people were around. Um, but there was a lot of helpful services, for instance, um, they

had multiple tables set up with people who brought, um, clothing, donated clothing and shoes and, you know, everything you would need. Um, they even had a, uh, massage therapists, people there with chairs that you could, you could get a massage. Um, they had an art area

for, and to the area for the kids they had, you know, then they had a whole other area in the part of the fairgrounds where all the animals were so you could walk, walk around during the day and at the animal holes. And that was rather

neat and they had good food. They, uh, it was better food than Athena House for sure. How long were you guys at the fairground? Two weeks on Cots on Cots. Yeah. And it was probably, I would say in the whole, the whole pavilion was filled with

coal. Yeah. So you had, you had your little stuff that you, that we brought from Athena house on our little cotton. That's what you had and it was cold in there at night. Uh, and, uh, but you had a sense of everybody was kind of thrown

in this situation together. So you were in it together. And so speaking about vulnerable populations. This is just something off the top of my head where there are many, um, people unhoused people who had to come because they were housed on the streets. Or I didn't

really notice that. Yeah, it's what I've been curious about that. I couldn't tell you. I saw one other than a lady, uh, that we both knew, uh, both know, um, when she was uh deep in her addiction, I saw her come through the pavilion one day

probably because she was just around town. Yeah, that's what I think because because they moved around so, yeah. Um ok. Is there anything else about this? Like did you discover any strength? It sounds like you really got a grip on fire safety and being prepared because

I know that people still have problems with that. Um I think what I took away from it is that uh it's a pain in the ass to have to evacuate for sure. Um Because you don't know how like here where I live, they closed the highway

and, well, I had 17 during that when I was at the Latina house and pavilion uh fairgrounds. But in the second two evacuations, they closed off the highway in both directions for between two and three weeks at a time each time. And so you nobody could

come back to their house. And so you were just like the last time I evacuated to, uh, east in that direction and, uh, we just had to wait to figure out when we could come back. Um, so we were, luckily we've gotten a good price on

a little motel room. But it was, yeah, it's still not home and it's still what's going on with my home. I figure, I figure out what it is to pack when you have to evacuate. Yeah, I think I'm pretty good at that this time around. Well,

I just wanted to thank you and let you know that you shared a whole bunch of information that I had never heard. And so I kind of, I'm, you know, I'm kind of like, whoa, they got to see. So, even though you were in a bad

situation and you were in a vulnerable population, you saw what was going on and, and, um, that's something that can be both good and bad. I think. I would think so. I mean, because we were on the inside, we couldn't see anything but maybe that made

it a little less scary because we couldn't see our county burning down. I would think it would have been more traumatic to be on the inside than it was to be on the outside because, you know, I never would, I'll never know it was, it, the

fires around the hills look like something out of a movie, like a, an absolute movie. And, um, my mother who was driving the night of October, uh, ninth, I believe it was that night. Uh, she said she was driving in the car with my daughter and

my brother and the cat and going down 12, both sides of the highway are on fire and people's houses were exploding and, um, people that we know, and one of the things I thought was really traumatic, the, the chief of the fire department here, he grew

up here as, as well as that. I, and he knows all these homes and all these families and he had to decide where to go and what to do. And that would have been a really difficult, yeah, that was a hard decision. All right. Well, thank

you.