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Ok. So the night of the tubs fire or the day of the tubs fire actually. Um, what was your timeline of your day looking like? And like, what did you do? Um, so the day before it was kind of like a weird day. Um, I like
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the weather was kind of weird, like it was very windy but not like it, it was just like a kind of a fall day and I didn't think anything of it except for like the wind. It was very, very windy. Um, and then, like, I woke
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up, I went to bed and then I woke up like around two in the morning and I just, like, had this smell of campfire and I was like, what's going on kind of thing? It was just really weird. So then how did you end up hearing
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about what was actually going on? Um, so I got like a few phone calls but apparently I didn't wake up. Um, eventually I did. But, um, I got a lot of phone calls from my family and, well, because they were closer now that I think about
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it, they were closer to the fire than I was, um, one of my family members, she lived really close to Coffee Park, which happened to be like one of the most affected areas on the west side of Santa Rosa. So they had already been evacuating and
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they were calling me. Um, and then I, when I woke up, I, I was like, oh, wow. Maybe my brother had walked through the home because it smelled like a campfire in the house. But then when I started looking through like all the alerts, um, my
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calls and stuff, I was like, what the heck is going on? And then I, I could see smoke in the house and I was like, is my house on fire? Like, and I didn't even notice and um, I go outside and the sky is just like
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red, like red, red and in the distance you can see just like giant fumes. It was just really weird. So then what was like, how did you respond? Like, how, like, what was going through your head? Like at that time when you were just thinking about
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it and seeing it outside? Um, for a second, it felt like I had woken up to a nightmare. Like I was like, this is like resident evil status. Like I was like, what's going on? Like, this is so weird and I could just see the neighbors
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like everyone was outside. Um, again, it's like two, almost like 22 30 in the morning at this point, everybody's kind of trying to figure out what to do. Like, I think as a, if it would have just been like a neighborhood, I don't think it would
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have been as much panic as it happened. But with like, every half hour you could just see that there was just more people, more noise, um, especially because the fire and then eventually, like, uh there was just loads of cars just loading up. And that's what
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I started. Like, I was like, I'm just gonna get my dad and go because my family who was um closer to the fire, they had already evacuated and had left to um to Petaluma. So it was just like a crazy line of events. Um Once I
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started getting ready to go, um my family was out there. Um I forgot if it was in a hall or a church and I don't know what it was when I was in the car. I started freaking out with my dog because you could see the
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north part of Santa Rosa like these huge planes. And then when you get on the freeway, you could start seeing what we say. Taylor Mountain, which is the south side of Santa Rosa, the mountains out there. Like um those were caught on fire and you started
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driving to Petaluma, there was patches of fire like everywhere. And I was like, why would I wait in Petaluma? So I just left to Oakley. Oh, Ok. So did they even tell you to evacuate or you just were like, I'm not gonna wait around for this
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to see what happened. Um I'm not gonna lie. I think they didn't for our area, which was weird because my aunt, she also said that she didn't get her like they were telling everybody kind of like to wait, which didn't make sense. But I think it's
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because it was just like a matter of moments when the fire had jumped from the freeway side where it had just built a burned down one of the biggest hotels we have and then it jumped the freeway and it burned a superstore uh Kmart that store
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and then it, that's when it just spread like everywhere. So they didn't get it and they said an early evacuation order, the only reason they knew is because the cops were going down the street like with their sirens and um kind of going in between the
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neighborhoods to tell everyone to leave. But there wasn't like really like a text message or like the notification alerts or anything like that. Ok. And then did the, so did the fire impact like your neighborhood specifically or were you able to get out safely and come
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back safely? Um My neighborhood was ok. Um, throughout the city there was just really ashes. But my um my aunts because she lived really close to the fire and I had to help bring because when she loaded her car, she went down the street to get
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my grandparents, they didn't even fit in their vehicle. Um, so I had to go back and help my grandparents get into my vehicle and then bring them back. And then that's when, like, I realized that I've, luckily my neighborhood wasn't as impacted as theirs, but it
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was definitely very sad to see. Yeah. And then how was traveling from, like, getting out of Santa Rosa all the way to Oakland? What, how was that, what was that experience like? Um it was scary just because like you, we didn't really prepare like we thought,
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oh an earthquake, you know, possible like here in this county, this part but kind of like oh an earthquake whatever if it happens. I mean, what can we really think? But a fire, I don't think anybody was prepared for that. So it was very like a
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scary experience. I literally just grabbed what I could in my sports bag like and I didn't even pack what was essential. Um I just grabbed what was nearby and I grabbed my dog, my dog and his dog food. I didn't even grab a leash. I didn't
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grab a kennel um whatever I could fit in my trunk and pretty much left everything behind. So it was I think because I packed so urgently I was able to beat most of the traffic out of Santa Rosa but for some people, they were stuck on
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the freeway for a bit. Um, but I think I made it in Oakland less than two hours but there's still some traffic but that's not, I guess you would say that bad for heading there at that time. Yeah. So then were you working during this period
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of your life? And then how did that, like, affect your job with the fires? So, I think it's crazy, but I did, I ended up still having, not necessarily having, having to. But, um, they were asking anybody, I worked in Macy's in retail and they were
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asking anybody who could to come work. It was like maybe 57 days after the initial fire started, they asked everybody to come back to see if they could work. Um The main idea was that there wasn't, there was people who had to evacuate and all their
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things had burned down so the retail stores open so people could buy clothes that they didn't have. Um However, it was a big, like there was big roadblocks to get to work. One roads were closed. Two. like you would get people coming into the store who
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like, actually were physically affected by the fire. So it kind of, I don't know, it kind of seemed like a good idea to reopen but then not just because people's physical well-being wasn't all there, especially with like the smog in the air. Um We would be
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walking in and out from work in um the masks, the N95. So it was just a surreal experience. It was just really weird because it didn't feel like we should be working. But, um, like, there wasn't really, I guess you could say a way to not
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work. And then, so then since you were a college student, how did your, how did the university respond to the fire, like, with your classes or did they take a break or how did they just respond to the emergency? I guess. Um, I think it was
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just all over the place. Um, I don't know if it was just because they never, the campus had never experienced something like this. But it was weird because there were some instructor, instructors, I think the ones that were very well aware of the situation that lived
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locally were, were very, um, understanding and we're like, oh, you guys don't worry about midterms, don't worry about homework. Like, make sure everyone's ok. Make sure you evacuated. Uh, we understand that you might not have your books on you. You might not have your laptops or
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your things to access your, your, um, school work. And then there was, there was instructors who weren't from the area who would commute here and they would be like, oh, just remember your assignments are due in a few days. Um, so I think it wasn't handled
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properly by everyone as a unison. Um, but again, I don't know if it was just because it was just something new to the town. Um, but yeah, it was very strange. I, I definitely, um, I definitely appreciated the teachers who were super sympathetic about the situation
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because there were people who literally lost everything like their homes, their cars, um, they had nothing and they were like, yeah, like, why would we even worry about you guys finishing your midterms or stuff like that? So, um, I do believe about a month later they
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did allow, um, students to have the option of, um, basically in a way wiping out the semester that, but it never happened. So I thought that was really nice because there's, yeah, again, there are some people who lost everything, like literally everything. Wow. So then what
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is like, if you could have wished that they had done something differently, what would it have been just giving you guys more leniency when it comes to classes and assignments? Um, yes, definitely. And I feel like I know there was even some instructors who did live
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locally, um, that were affected by the fire. I mean, there really wasn't anything they could do either to stay in communication with the students. I think I would just say be better prepared for an emergency like this. Um, because I mean, like myself, I, I financially
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put myself through school ever since I was 15. So for me to have like a semester or like a few days of where I wasn't really sure what was gonna happen, like, financially, if I was like, we're gonna survive a semester that I would possibly fail
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to because of the, just one, the trauma to, like, the, like, the hardship to, and to get to and from work, um, grocery stores. Like, uh, do you know how, like, the pandemic kind of put a limit to hours and how things be open? That's how
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our town was. So, I felt like when the fire hit, it was like a pre pandemic. Like, so our, our, it was really strict. You couldn't be out and about, um, certain areas were locked, uh, or like secured away because there was people who were going
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and robbing from the burn sites. So, um, the police put like a, um, like, um, what do they call it? A, uh, when you can't go out past a certain amount of time, there's a curfew, they put a curfew. Um, certain stores would only be open.
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So I think just yet the city would be better prepared. I think that's what happened the next year that we had another fire. Um, but yeah, that one definitely like the town I think, realized how, how little, how much unison we really needed. And then how
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was like your own personal mental health affected and if it was, did that kind of affect your academic success for the semester. Um, yeah, it definitely did. Um, one because again, I had, I had friends um, that were directly impacted by this fire. Uh, down the
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street from Coffee Park was my high school. So a lot of my friends lived in that area and they had been in those homes since they were Children toddlers where some of them have been there their entire life. So it was very scary. Um, to not
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be in communication with some of them because we just didn't know, like, because there were people who died in the fires that were asleep, they didn't wake up. So, um, it was very scary. Uh, we kind of everybody who could kind of form, I guess group
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chats. We were just kind of checking on each other and be like, hey, have you heard from so and so have you heard from that? So, um, it was definitely very like scary. I couldn't really focus whenever I went to work. I was like, why am
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I here? Like this doesn't make sense why the mall should be open. Um I did do some volunteer um, service myself at another local high school. I'll see Allen because I just couldn't be at home. Like it felt, I felt so anxious just being in my
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home and I was like, no, I got to do something like I can't just be here. So I want to go do that, did like clothing donation drives and stuff like that, but there's still just like this dark cloud over you that I just couldn't like,
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I was like, I gotta do this. Homework doesn't matter right now. So it just doesn't. But then I was like, wow, my semester, my finances, everything. Um, I, I, yeah, I couldn't focus. So I was really happy when some of my instructors were like, oh, I'm
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canceling this midterm. I'm canceling these assignments. Um, and then some of them even said the final was gonna be like a accumulation only of the first midterm and some small stuff like they were trying to be lenient. And I think if they weren't, there was no
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way anybody would survive the semester, like at all. Right. And then, so then after the fire, how did um life on campus change? Did it at all? Yeah, it felt very empty. Um Like a lot of people had to relocate so um some people couldn't return
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to campus. Um There was, it just felt empty because I think everybody in a way was mentally affected either directly or indirectly. It, I wanna say the first few weeks going back, it felt like a ghost town. Um And I don't know, like usually our junior
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college is super busy the first, the first week, like people are trying to drop in, add into classes last minute and the counselors, but it was just an empty campus. Um I do know that some people weren't able to afford to go back um because of
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everything they lost. But yeah, I just, it was completely weird. Wow, that's crazy. Um And then is there any changes that have happened in your life since then? From the fires? Um, not necessarily directly. Um I think every time a fire would hit, it was just
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like, uh I gonna say, I mean, I guess for me, I guess you could say a little bit of like anxiety every time you hear the nexus message, warning thing go off. Everybody is always like a little bit on edge. Um My family, like we all
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had it set up to get messages on our phone, but we still have like group chats. We're like, hey, did you get this message? So I guess you could say a little bit of paranoia uh just because our keeps turning on fire. But yeah, yeah. And
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then, so then the junior college, how did they kind of help students recover or cope? Um Were there any resources offered? Um Yeah, eventually, like I wanna say after the first month returning back in um the spring, they started doing these uh fire like relief um
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like scholarships and uh they were able to help people who, who were either directly helped by um fema or not. And um I would say uh that's one thing I didn't re um like automatically started noticing as it was heading towards the summer, we just started
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having a bigger homeless population. Um So I know that the JC was kind of trying to one help the students like, kind of continue in school. But I wanna say I noticed a huge, a huge amount of people who weren't able to return because they were
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homeless and like, their priority for finances were now trying to get a home. Um, so they were trying to help, but like the financial, like, obstacles that people were facing were a little bit greater than just paying for books and tuition. They did what they could,
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I could, I would like to think. Hm. Well, that was my last question. So thank you so much for interviewing with me and sharing your experience. Yeah. Any time. Ok, I'm gonna stop the recording.