Nicolas Barling interview on the 2017 Tubbs Fire, April 12, 2023

I'm Reagan Jorgenson and I'll be interviewing Nick Barling who was in high school during the time of the 2017 tubs fire. So, what grade level and age were you at the time of the fires? I was a junior in high school. And do you remember how

old you were? Not really? That's ok. Um, in a while, what school did you go to? And like, kind of like where was it located? Uh, I went to Maria Caro High School in Santa Rosa. And, um, what was your living situation like at the time

before the fire, before the fire? I lived with my grandparents. Um, and my mom and brother all in one house very close to the school. And how did you learn about this fire? Was it from, like friends or text messages or whatever? Well, me and many

of my friends were directly affected by it because of the evacuations and the fire being so close. It was right on the hill next to the school itself. Yeah. So, and that's how you, like you, like, you just saw it. Yeah. Ok. Um, and then like,

what kind of feelings or emotions do you remember having, like during that time when you first saw the fire very, like, surreal, like, didn't really know how to react really? Because we got just like our neighbor knocking on our door and like, yelling, obviously that there

was like a fire on the hill. And then, you know, everybody does that thing that dads do, like when there's a tornado thing where they go and stand on their porch and just look at it for an ungodly amount of time. So, like everybody was just

standing outside looking at the fire like a rip down this hill and like, it's dangerous, you know. So, uh, it was just very surreal feeling and it just, it just didn't really feel like it was happening kind of, you know, like my, my body and my

emotions didn't really know how to react to it. Did you have a lot of time to like, evacuate if you did evacuate? Uh, yeah, I would, I would say so. I mean, but that's all dependent on like the wind really. So it wasn't really blowing straight

down the hill towards my house specifically. So it was, there was still urgency, but we were packing a lot of shit. Yeah. Um, and then what kind of student were you before the fires with, like sleep schedule and your academics and grades and things like that?

Well, I had a bed time because my mom was really overbearing and, uh, after the fire and stuff like that. I mean, school got canceled for a long time because of everybody who did lose their home and, uh, just all the smoke pollution and stuff like

that. And the school was very accommodating with people who were affected. So they just kind of were really relaxed when it, when it came to all the school work and stuff like that. But I would say my sleep schedule stayed pretty similar when I wasn't here.

I was, stayed at my friend's house in, with like, all of my family in like a two bedroom apartment which was really cramped, but I got to sleep. It was ok. Um, sorry if I answered multiple questions. Um, and what was it like to go back

to class after the fires? Uh, crappy. You know, when you're a kid in high school and, you know, the last place you wanna be is at school. So, I think everybody who wasn't directly, like, affected by their house being burnt down was kind of disappointed that

they had to go back to class. Yeah. And how long were you, like, out of school before you had to go back? Oh, gosh, I don't know. At least a couple weeks. Maybe. I'm not exactly sure on the time, but at least a couple of weeks.

Um, and then was there any damage done to your school? I think the fire did come down and, uh, sing a couple of the buildings. But I don't think we ever lost a, a building at all. I think it just lick this side of the school

and then maybe burn part of the field. That was about it. Um, and I know you kind of already answered this but, like, did your grades suffer at all or, like, like your mental or emotional health, like, anything like that? Uh, not a lot. My grades

didn't really suffer that much. I wasn't a straight a student in any capacity but, you know, like I shot for like CBS definitely. Um, and I wouldn't say that the fires directly affected it maybe even positively because of how like teachers became after the fires. It

kind of helped everybody out and I had to do school work. Yeah. So you feel like your grades kind of got like, better? Yeah, I would say so just because they were trying to accommodate for everybody and they can't just like, select one student and be

like, oh, because your house got affected, you get this special pass. It was kind of just like a school wide. This is affecting everybody. We're going to be a little more type of deal. Um And then you also kind of talked about this but do you

feel like your teachers and staff were um, more like understanding and kind of like, made the process easier or do you feel like they made it more difficult or like, no change personally with my teachers? I felt like they were very accommodating to people's situations. But,

um, there were probably some teachers at the school that weren't as accommodating maybe just because they didn't have as much empathy. Yeah, I don't know. But personally my teachers were very accommodating. Um, and then how do you feel like your peer relationships were affected if they

were at all? And what were some of your friends' experiences? Well, I know our good friend CJ got his house burnt down completely. And, uh, a lot of my friends went to Cardinal Newman and that school got completely torched. So that got ripped up. So they

had to go to like, portables or do online schooling. I'm not exactly sure what their situation was with their school that got burnt down. Uh, but I mean, my friendships stayed strong. Luckily I didn't have anybody that lost their lives, just property, you know. Um, we're

all very supportive. Everybody, you know, stuck their hand out to help their neighbor basically, you know. Um, and we were like that for our friend CJ. But they had, uh, like trailers and stuff that they were able to sleep in. So they're doing all right. Um,

and then how did your daily routine change at all after the fire if it did well, during the evacuations, mainly it changed quite a bit because I wasn't in my house. I didn't have all of my stuff, like all my toiletries and stuff. So I was

like using other people's soap at my, my friend Kla's house in and it was like me, my mom, my brother, both my grandparents and then they had three people in their two bedroom apartments. So we had eight people like all in like a like less than

700 square feet, like very, very small place to live. Um So it was just a lot more condensed, only one bathroom that was fun. But as soon as we as the evacuations got lifted and we got to come back, then it went back to normal. Um,

and do you feel like you had any, like fears or paranoia at all about fires coming back? Uh, I don't know more like about if I would say I was fearful because of just all, all the droughts and the whole hills yellow covered with like dry

grass. Like I just assumed that it was going to be inevitable and there's warnings every year basically since that like fire danger. Um, yeah, I wouldn't say I was so fearful but I did expect it. Yeah. Um, and was your family affected at all financially by

the fire financially? Um, not, not really because all of the, the work of my mom who was the only one working at the time was not in Santa Rosa or affected by the fires. It was like in Petaluma, she was able to still commute to work.

Normally it was just our living situation that was kind of bunk for however long the evacuations were held for. Um, and then after the fire, do you, did you have like more of a disaster like safety preparedness plan in place? Not at all? Um And then

what do you think was the hardest part about the fire? And why? Uh I, I would say probably like the living in the, the unsure because you couldn't get a lot of information about what was going on where the fire was at. And like if your

house was directly affected by it, because we would just hear it through like the nix alerts or whatever on your phone, like, oh, this is where the fire at and like it's, it's burned this much or your house may, may be affected. We don't know, you

know, and you couldn't actually like, see there was no like camera feed, at least for us so that you could like, see your house and stuff like that. So it was just, you know, being a little unsure if our house was ok because we were in

at the time. And the only thing we, we couldn't come back here because they closed off all the roads and you know, like an ember can just land in your backyard or something and then blow up and your whole house could be gone. So we just

didn't know a part of the time. We thought our house was gone. Another part we were like, Oh, it's, it's nowhere near, from just word of mouth from other people who didn't actually leave or from just the, like, text messages that we would get. Like, oh,

it's more over here and not so over here. So it was like, oh, I don't know. Yeah. Um, and then if you had to relive the fire, would you do anything differently? And if so what would you do, uh, leave sooner to beat some of that

traffic? Yeah, it's kind of fun. Well, because, you know, everybody was like, still not sure if, if they should leave or not because it's like a fire can spread really fast. And the people who know about the dangers of fire were like, out Kety split. But

like I said, there was that moment where there was just, people were just in awe standing outside their house just looking at it, like, ripped down the hill. Like, wow, that's, it was getting kind of close. That's kind of crazy, you know. So, probably just to

pack up and leave sooner, maybe pack a little more. It was really hard transporting my, my grandma and grandpa because my grandpa was hooked up to oxygen at the time and he was on hospice and my grandma, uh, was quite a hefty woman, I guess you

could say, and had a very hard time with arthritis in her knees and couldn't walk at all. So we had to physically, like, lift her into, like a truck and like a car which was really hard for me to do as a 17 year old, very

skinny person. And, uh, we had to enlist the help of my neighbor's stepdad and my neighbor, uh, to actually get her into the vehicle and ready to go, which took a, a little bit longer. So, definitely, just to be more proactive in and leaving, I guess.

Yeah. Um, and then what did you learn after the fire if you feel like you learned anything? Uh Just, you know, life's short stuff happens. It can happen in an instant. You know, you, you, you live your whole, sorry people live their whole lives thinking that,

you know, either they're untouchable or because they, nothing really happens to anybody but when something like that happens and affects like, so many people, um, it definitely, like opens your eyes to like, wow. You know, it's just a hot windy day and then a ton of

people got their houses burned down and a s there, like their school got burned down and nobody had a place to live and it was just really crazy all at once and nobody thought it would happen but it happened, you know. Yeah. So that's what I

learned. Well, that's all. Thank you.