00:00:01.220 - 00:00:20.100

Ok. Ok. So I'm here with Misty Wood. Uh Misty, thank you for coming. You're welcome. Um, so we're gonna go ahead and get started. Um, these, uh, let's see. I'm gonna. Ok. Um, so, um, have you ever experienced a traumatic natural disaster event before the 2017

00:00:20.110 - 00:00:39.119

tubs fire? If so when, where, what happened and did this lead you to prepare for a natural disaster in any way? Uh No, no. Ok. No. Right now I haven't been involved in anything like that. Ok. Ok. Um, do you recall how you found out about

00:00:39.130 - 00:00:55.610

the Tufts fire on the night of October 8? Were you on duty that night? What was your reaction? And what were your thoughts? You actually remember it really vividly? So I was signed up for nickels. I've been at the sheriff's office for six months and II

00:00:55.619 - 00:01:09.120

I sleep really heavily. So by the time I got the nickel, I'd had like three or four alerts come through on my phone and my window was open that night because it was kind of warm. And so I got these nickels about a fire and I

00:01:09.129 - 00:01:22.220

could smell the smoke through my window. And I live in West County so I could smell the smoke through the window and I was immediately, like, felt like something was wrong. Um, I was married at the time and my husband's time was like, whatever, like, go

00:01:22.230 - 00:01:36.069

back to sleep. If they need you, they'll call you, like, chill out and we never experienced anything like this before. So I was really, really wound up and really, like, feeling unsettled because I felt like something was wrong. Um, and then I got a phone call

00:01:36.080 - 00:01:46.819

from a lieutenant and he was very casual about the whole thing. But he said, hey, you know, we've got this big fire, we need you to come in. It's like an all hands on deck sort of situation. Ok. And he goes, um, you know, the freeway

00:01:46.830 - 00:01:57.970

is kind of a mess. So you might wanna come in Denville Road because he knew that I lived in West County and I said, oh, ok. But that was all I got. And I was only been working for six months at the sheriff's office. So I

00:01:57.980 - 00:02:14.539

was still, I was still on probation. I was still sort of figuring out my role. And so I remember driving in and it was, it was, um, it was wild. It's like nothing I've ever seen. I had no idea what was happening and I, I have

00:02:14.550 - 00:02:28.559

this distinct memory of coming in on road heading towards the main and I felt my foot come off the accelerator because I could see ahead of me, I could see fire in the hills. I felt my foot come off the accelerator involuntarily. And I was like,

00:02:28.570 - 00:02:42.300

oh, wait a second. I, I got to keep going and so I had to consciously put my foot back on this accelerator to keep going forward towards the fire. Um, I knew it was the right thing to do and I know it's my job and it's

00:02:42.309 - 00:02:54.279

my duty, but I, I wasn't prepared for it. I trained for it. Um, I think part of it is I'd only been on six months and I think part of it was that we had never experienced anything like that before. So I just knew that it

00:02:54.289 - 00:03:05.429

was my job to show up to the main office in hell or high water. I was going to get to the main office and, and that's kind of how it, that's kind of how it started. That was it. I think I was in the main office

00:03:05.440 - 00:03:17.589

by like 1 30 or two in the morning or something like that. Um So by that time you could, like the, the fire was already over in Santa Rosa. You can already see it in the hills and stuff and I didn't know what level of destruction

00:03:17.600 - 00:03:34.914

had happened because we couldn't see anything besides flames and smoke. Um, so we didn't know the devastation. We didn't know the level of destruction. We just knew it was really, really bad. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so when you got there, what, uh, what were you helping

00:03:34.925 - 00:03:51.645

with or what were you doing when you got in? Um, I reported to the EOC the emergency operation center and I was part of the public information team. And so I was with the sheriff's office but working with the county public information officers to get, send

00:03:51.654 - 00:04:06.710

out alerts and send out public information. So I was, I was sending out evacuation orders through n so, um so that was my role initially when I first got there. Oh, ok. Yeah. Ok. Um Oh I already asked you, uh can you tell me about the

00:04:06.720 - 00:04:20.609

stress you experienced during the tubs fire? Could you describe the thoughts, feelings and emotions that you experience during this time? So, or maybe I guess like you kind of explained that already. But what about like when you got to work, what was the stress like being

00:04:20.619 - 00:04:35.130

there? Um So as soon as I walked into the emergency operations center, you could feel the stressful energy in the room and I'm fairly susceptible to other people's energy. So I, I walked in and I was like, oh my God. And it's just, it was like,

00:04:35.140 - 00:04:52.130

it was just chaos, it was just chaos. And so there was um what was interesting is that like when everybody else around me was being all chaotic and crazy and, and sort of like responding to this, that sort of energy is contagious. So calm is contagious

00:04:52.140 - 00:05:08.220

and panic is contagious. So while everybody's behind the scenes trying to like, we're going like what's going on, what's happening at the EOC um, there was a distinct change when I went into the sheriff's office building. So the sheriff's office building was, um, so there's kind

00:05:08.230 - 00:05:22.820

of like two bases of couple bases of operation. The emergency operation center is where the alerts were coming out of and all the support system for people. So shelters, um, animal shelters, things like that come out of the emergency operation center and the sheriff's office does

00:05:22.829 - 00:05:40.160

is responsible for the evacuations. And so, um, when I walked into the sheriff's office building, it was a completely different energy and it was calm and it was handled and it was, it was fine and it was not fine as in everything was ok, but fine

00:05:40.170 - 00:05:53.260

as in like we're handling it and it was really, really, it made a huge impression on me. The difference, the just the difference in the energy and how everybody else's moods affected me. Yeah, and it was a big lesson for me as a like a baby

00:05:53.269 - 00:06:12.079

first responder to realize the importance of how you present yourself, how you talk to people, how you hold yourself together, impacts everybody around you in a very significant way. Um So it was, it was, um, honestly, like there was so much adrenaline, it was hard to

00:06:12.089 - 00:06:27.459

process anything because it was like a straight adrenaline rush for three weeks. It was just, I mean, I was running on adrenaline the entire time because it was stressful and that we had the responsibility to make sure that the evacuation orders went out. So that way

00:06:27.470 - 00:06:39.779

people were hopefully getting out of harm's way. Um, and then you had all of the follow up stress of people, even like a couple of days in people want to go home and I don't blame them. Of course they want to go home. Um, but it

00:06:39.790 - 00:06:53.790

was, it was really, really destructive and still actively burning really hot behind the lines and they didn't understand. So people are stressed out, stressed and irritated and frustrated. The public is understandably. Um, but we can't let them go in because we don't want them to get

00:06:53.799 - 00:07:10.350

hurt, die. Right? And at this point when we first, when it first happened, we didn't know that we had any fatalities. Um, we, we, the patrol, like we suspected on the patrol, deputy side, they suspected there were fatalities because it hit so hard and so fast

00:07:10.720 - 00:07:25.279

that they, they had a feeling that there, that people had died in it. But we didn't know initially. I didn't really know. Yeah. Thank you. I want to say thank you for uh helping out during that time. I can only imagine how stressful it must have

00:07:25.290 - 00:07:42.929

been. But thank you for doing that. That's great. Um, let's see. Um, so I, I'll skip this question because it's asking if you were involved or in charge of evacuation operations. But you just, you go to the, but, but you weren't actually evacuating. Yeah, I would

00:07:42.940 - 00:07:56.959

say if I could just touch on that. I think one of the interesting things that came out of it is, um, at the time we only had evacuation orders that were being issued in English And I remember that. Yes. Right. And so initially we didn't have

00:07:56.970 - 00:08:08.179

the capabilities to issue them in, in, in Spanish. We do now, but at the time, we only had the opportunity to issue them in English. And I, I think I told you, I have a minor in Spanish and Spanish pretty well. I'm not a native speaker

00:08:08.739 - 00:08:25.549

and it was a gap that I think we just, we just didn't realize, um and the company that, that the company that we use to send out alerts called me and said, hey, we can upgrade your package, you can send them out in Spanish if you

00:08:25.559 - 00:08:36.770

want. And I was like, ok, we'll just figure out pricing and everything later. Yeah, I said do it. Yeah, I was six months in, I don't know if I had the authority. I didn't really care. It was the right thing to do. Yeah, I agree because

00:08:36.780 - 00:08:50.784

we, we live in a community where there's a bunch of Hispanic or Spanish speaking people. Yes. And it's I mean, you know, it would be kind of messed up not to tell them to get resources. Exactly. Exactly. And if they're, if they're receiving an order on

00:08:50.794 - 00:09:02.445

their phone or something, if they're receiving an order that they're in danger and they need to leave, they have just as, just as much of a right as an English speaker to, to get that information or life saving information. So I said, yes, I pulled the

00:09:02.455 - 00:09:13.900

trigger. I didn't ask anybody. I just, he, he said he could do it. I said yes, as if I knew what I was doing. Honestly, I would have done the same if I was so. Yeah, it was the right thing to do. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right.

00:09:13.909 - 00:09:29.039

And that was what I learned after the fact about being at the sheriff's office is there's a lot of autonomy as an individual if it's the right thing to do. So what's great is as things were playing out afterwards. Nobody ever disciplined me. Nobody thought nobody

00:09:29.049 - 00:09:43.510

ever criticized me internally. It was never a problem. Even though it was under normal circumstances, not a decision I would have the power to make. This was not normal. This was the right thing to do and it was totally fine. Yeah. Great. That's awesome. Thank you

00:09:43.520 - 00:10:03.489

for touching on that. Yeah, that's good information. Um, how would you describe the person you were then and the person you are now? Hm. That's a really good question. Um, so I think then responding initially and through the three weeks, I really felt like I didn't

00:10:03.500 - 00:10:20.919

know what I was doing. I'd only been in law enforcement six months. We never had a fire and I was just running off of instinct, just straight instinct with a very, very small little team. It was myself, the sheriff, the public information officer. Um, and then

00:10:20.929 - 00:10:35.919

eventually brought in a night time pio and we had a consultant who was helping us. Um, it was a very, very small team for public, public information purposes. It's not that many people. So I really felt like I didn't know what I was doing. I wasn't

00:10:35.929 - 00:10:45.059

trained, I wasn't prepared but didn't matter. I was just gonna do it anyways because it was a, it was just you show up and that's what you do. You just do your job. It doesn't, it doesn't matter, you just figure it out and you do your

00:10:45.070 - 00:11:03.469

job. And so, um, now for a number of reasons personally and professionally, I feel way more capable, way more confident. I know what I'm doing. I've trained a team. We work really well together. We have a system when it comes to fire, public information and evacuations

00:11:03.479 - 00:11:23.539

for fires. We have a system in place. We do education regularly. I feel like we are just dialed in, in a completely different way and I feel really confident and capable and successful in what I'm doing. Whereas before I felt completely unprepared, completely, just running off

00:11:23.549 - 00:11:37.419

of instinct and realizing it was this happening. I was proud of the work we were doing and I thought we were doing a great job, but still, still feeling internally, incredibly, not confident. You know, I think a lot of us felt that way. We were, we've

00:11:37.429 - 00:11:50.890

never experienced anything like this. We've lived in wind for our whole lives and yeah, same thing for us. We were like, what do we do? Where do we go? Like, and there are, I remember like the freeway was insane and people were just trying, they were

00:11:50.900 - 00:12:04.510

cutting people off and because they were panicky, right? They were panicking and making bad decisions because they were panicked. And so what's interesting is it gets back to people like calm is contagious. That's one of the things that Sheriff Rob said more than once in his

00:12:04.520 - 00:12:23.109

press conferences and he was right because even though as humans were feeling panicky or upset or ill prepared or scared of how many people have died or we've lost our own home and all of that, that's what's really important for us as first responders is to

00:12:23.119 - 00:12:37.909

not let that show because if we get up there and we show those kinds of emotions, the public is going to fall apart and we owe them strength. You know, we owe them strength. We owe them a good response and we owe them. We should be

00:12:37.919 - 00:13:00.559

a rock. We should be people that they can look to as first responders. Yeah, that's great. Um, who was the most helpful to you during this time? And how, and how were they helpful? Like, it's such a good question. I'm like, I'm thinking, think about it.

00:13:00.570 - 00:13:24.179

I think we'll wait for this to pass anyways. So I don't have one person. Can I answer with multiple, please? Because I, I sort of see it as like there's like a personal side of it and a professional side of it. Um I'll start with the

00:13:24.190 - 00:13:40.210

personal side. Um We ended up bringing in a deputy who is our night time pio we realized as we were going through that we were, we as the response team for public information were only working days and we were working like hella long days, but we

00:13:40.219 - 00:13:54.840

needed somebody at night. And so we brought in, we brought in a deputy who's really good at this. He's really good at public information. We brought him in and so he and I end up briefing and debriefing every day at 7 a.m. or 7 p.m. And

00:13:54.849 - 00:14:09.900

so, um I remember seeing him like three or 45 days in, I don't know, it's a blur and I saw him one night at, I think one morning at 7 a.m. when we were briefing and he was coming off shift, I was coming on shift and

00:14:09.909 - 00:14:21.549

he looks at me, he goes, you look like hell and I was like, thanks, buddy. Like, would it be a jerk? I was like, I don't know if you've noticed, but the county is in crisis and it's burning down. So it's one of those times where

00:14:21.559 - 00:14:33.400

it doesn't matter how you have the sand. Like, what is wrong with you. You know why you gotta be a jerk. And, uh, and I, so I told him that I basically was like, yeah, well, whatever the county's burning down, I don't know what you want

00:14:33.409 - 00:14:44.909

from me. And he was like, are you sleeping? And I was like, no, I'm not sleeping. He's like, I was like, have you noticed our county is burning down? Like, I don't have time to sleep. And he looks at me and he says, here's the thing.

00:14:44.919 - 00:14:59.049

He goes, you have to take care of yourself because if you don't take care of yourself, you can't take care of this community. So you have to sleep. And I said, and it totally shocked me and I kind of pulled me out of my response to

00:14:59.059 - 00:15:15.270

his, you know, his observation that I looked like hell, I mean, he wasn't wrong. But, um, and I, and, and I said, well, I can't, I just can't. And so he said, go home, take a Benadryl and a glass of red wine. It's just for this,

00:15:15.280 - 00:15:27.270

it's just for this incident. But you have to sleep because if you don't sleep, you're not gonna make it and I really appreciated that coming from him. And that was kind of a turning point for me. And so he, he was personally the most helpful because

00:15:27.280 - 00:15:41.179

he was, he was picking up on what I was experiencing as a human in a way that other folks weren't. And I think we just had the time, you know, because we were briefing and debriefing regularly. It just, it just kind of happened that way and

00:15:41.190 - 00:15:53.369

he was in touch what was going on and he was aware that I was new at this job. And so personally, he helped me the most because he, he made me stop and realize I have to take care of myself. And I took a Benadryl and

00:15:53.380 - 00:16:05.530

a glass of red wine that night and I was like, all right. Well, he, he said I have to, I have to sleep. So I'm gonna try because like, and, and it worked and it helped me get recharge to recharge and get some sleep and be

00:16:05.539 - 00:16:17.940

able to perform better the next day and subsequent weeks. And I really appreciate him paying attention to my needs as a human. That's awesome. Yeah, that's great. Yeah, it was really important and it was a lesson that I'll never forget about how we have to take

00:16:17.950 - 00:16:32.200

care of ourselves. Yeah, great. Um And I, I think, I don't know, professionally, it's a little bit all over the place. Um It was really like the whole team there were three of us, it was the sheriff and my partner at the time and we have

00:16:32.210 - 00:16:47.549

a consultant who was helping us with the communications in general. And I would feel like honestly, all three of them were equally helpful professionally because I, everybody runs as a team. And so the four of us were super tight running as a team all day long.

00:16:47.559 - 00:17:06.280

And so like, I'm not successful without them and they're not successful without me. Yeah. Yeah, of course. Great. That's awesome. Yeah. Um, how are you managing or coping from this experience? Um So it's been six years, but is there something, or is there something like that

00:17:06.290 - 00:17:26.649

stood out to you? Like a, a story in particular that you remember very well. Um There, there's a couple things. Um, yeah, it's one of those, um, it's one of those defining moments in life that forever changes who you are. Um, my, he's now my boyfriend,

00:17:26.659 - 00:17:40.380

he worked the night of the fire as a deputy. Um, every time we go through Mark West Springs, I remind him that he did a good job because every time we go through, every time we go through there, you know, I'm reminded of the work that

00:17:40.390 - 00:17:55.500

he did that night, of course. And, um, you know, he's relayed to me, you know, kind of what it was like and being on the hill that night and it was intense and I'm really appreciative that he's still here, he's still alive. And I want, I

00:17:55.510 - 00:18:08.435

think it's important for him and other people who work that night to be reminded that they did the best that they could do. Yeah, of course. Um, and that they did a good job. So, you know, there's, it's not as bad. Like, at first I would

00:18:08.444 - 00:18:21.775

see, you know, see spots where I'm like, oh, I remember when that building was destroyed and on fire when I drove through here or I remember seeing mobile homes where their roofs were melted in and that's faded with time. And I think that's just working through

00:18:21.785 - 00:18:36.959

the trauma of it is you don't see the trauma, you didn't see the destruction everywhere you go as much with time as you work through it. Um, so that, that was, that was much harder initially. Um, and plus like some of those homes, like they were

00:18:36.969 - 00:18:49.435

there for months, right? While we're doing clean up and all the things. Um, so a lot of that, a lot of that has faded with time as I've worked through it. Um, but it's, it's, you know, it's, there's, there's key moments that I'll never forget. Yeah.

00:18:49.444 - 00:19:01.765

Yeah, of course. That's, that's part of the human experience I think with dealing with a traumatic event, you know, especially because you don't have the option to walk away like you're dealing with it. You just are. Yeah. Well, say, thank you so much to your boyfriend.

00:19:01.824 - 00:19:22.170

I will Thank you. It's really great. That's very touching. Thank you for sharing that with me. I really appreciate that. Yeah, you're welcome. Um, um If you were to relive this disaster, would you do anything differently? If so, what would that be? I think so. I

00:19:22.180 - 00:19:40.010

mean, I just think that now it's been, you know, it's been so many years later and I have so many other fires under my belt and I have so much more confidence. Um, I would have brought in a bigger team right away, like immediately. Um, when,

00:19:40.020 - 00:19:52.050

oh, this is the biggest thing I would have done differently when I initially woke up and smelled the smoke and got those alarms. I would have just gone to the main office right away. That's something that I kind of kick myself over because my, my gut

00:19:52.060 - 00:20:01.895

told me there was a problem, but I didn't really know what to do. So I didn't do anything and I waited, get called in and I would absolutely not do that today if I woke up and I smelled the smoke or I felt like something was

00:20:01.905 - 00:20:16.479

wrong. I would just go to the main office. I would just, I would just get dressed in black and go. That's the biggest thing. That's the biggest thing I would do over. Um, I would bring in a bigger team right away. Um, I think those are

00:20:16.489 - 00:20:29.089

the two, I think those are the two biggest things that I would do differently. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, of course. I think I would do the same. I, I think a lot of us would do the same now. Like, what's going on? Yeah, we learn. Right. Like

00:20:29.119 - 00:20:41.599

we learn, you learn and you always try to do better next time. Right. Of course. And so those, those are the big things that I would do differently, um, that I would do differently, you know, for it to happen again. And I had the, the insight

00:20:41.609 - 00:21:02.680

and the knowledge that I have now, um, is there something else you think I should know to better understand the challenges that you faced during the wildfire? Um, don't, I think, I think that's good. I think we've kind of, I think that's basically covers it. You

00:21:02.689 - 00:21:14.439

know, I think, you know, it's different for me because I'm a civilian, I'm not a police officer so I wasn't on the hill and everything but we just, I, I think we've sort of covered everything about kind of what, like, generally what it's like, like, honestly

00:21:14.449 - 00:21:23.719

we could talk all day but in a, in a 45 minute interview, I think you've pretty much covered the basics. Yeah. Thank you so much. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead and pause this.