Elena Cannady interview on the 2017 Tubbs Fire, April 5, 2023

Ok. Interview number two Elena candidate Kennedy. She was incarcerated at the Sonoma County jail during the wildfires in 2017. So this is her interview regarding that time and how it affected her being in a vulnerable population as she was unable to do anything. She was locked

up. Ok. Well, let me start. So before this fire in 2017, had you ever experienced a traumatic like event, a natural disaster type event? The only thing that really I remember is the 1989 earthquake and I can remember my mom screaming, stand in the door, stand

in the door jam and I, my window was right there. So I'm in the door jam, I'm looking out and our entire driveway is going in waves. I mean, it, so that would probably be the only like natural disaster. I could say that I've really been

affected by other than the fires. So, um, I know you were incarcerated when the fires happened. But did you have a home outside of the jail? Yes. So I had a house or an apartment, my kids and I, when I went to jail, my ex-husband moved

in so that I could keep my housing because it's low income. So, yes, I did have. And the second part to that question was, did you know at the time, what, what was going on with that house? Like you knew it was a little bit outside

of Santa Rosa. But you had no clue if it was in danger or not at all. Ok. Was it difficult for you to stay in contact with family members, friends, Anybody during, during the fire? Well, we weren't allowed out of ourselves. So I couldn't call anyone.

I couldn't send mail because we weren't allowed out of ourselves to go to where you put the mail. Um, I was completely isolated because I had a cell to myself. So I had no one to even talk to. It was, I remember asking the guards what's

happening and, um, and they, they would say nothing, nothing at all. Yeah. So then do. Ok, that's a good lead. And do you recall how you found out about the fire? And was it on the same night that it started? Oh, my goodness. No. Um, so

I remember waking up to glowing orange outside my window, just the most intense orange I've ever seen. And I knew it wasn't like a sunset. It wasn't that. It was so scary because I knew something was wrong and we were told to put things, uh, in

our door jam and in the door. So something I, and you could smell the smell was so intense. So we knew, I mean, I just knew something bad was happening. And I can remember looking out my window down the row of cells, all the doors closed

and there were sticky notes on every single door and I couldn't figure out what that was for. So I know um that you actually had responsibilities within the, the jail. Um So what were your responsibilities right before the fire? So I was a mod worker. So

basically they would take us out of the mod. We were in and bring us into another mod to serve meals, serve lunch or breakfast or dinner and then, uh, every week do an entire cleaning of the whole mod. So that got you out of your cell.

So you, you were used to being able to leave yourself throughout the day. And so what changed were you? So, no, we were not allowed out of ourselves for anything. Ok. We weren't allowed to go anywhere. We weren't allowed to do anything. So, do you remember

any of like your emotions during that time? Are you anxious? I was, I've never been, I can honestly say that is maybe top three of how scared I've ever been because I didn't know the extent. I didn't know if my kids were ok, they didn't know

if I was ok. Nobody knew anything. I had no communication. It was, it was extremely scary. Um, we, uh, we do have a question about whether or not you were involved in an evacuation. I know you're, you said you were not. Do you feel that you

should have been? Do you feel that the inmate should have been moved? When I heard after I got out of jail that the fire came to within one block of our jail? All I could think was we wouldn't have been able to be evacuated if that

fire had gone one more block, we'd be dead. There'd be no getting us out at that point. We're, we're all in there. So, who was the most helpful during this time? Like, did you have helpful CEO S and they would give you information or? No? No,

I did not one and no newspapers, no newspapers. Um, one CEO, I mean, I remember being in tears and panic just, I have to talk to my kids and I go, I don't even know what's going on. Is everything ok? She goes, it's gonna be ok

and I didn't know what that meant. Now, I know that's so cryptic. Give me something else. Yeah. Um, was like, I remember there being ash, ash coming in. So, um, does any of this ever come back to you? Like this was in 2017? So that's six

years ago. Does it ever affect you still, or is it just when you think about it? Well, definitely thinking about it makes me feel physically sick to my stomach. Uh, what brings things back for me is every fire season. I just feel this intense panic where

I can feel like I can barely breathe. And I wa I notice I watch the news every day during fires. I don't any other time but I know when fire season is and I watch the news and I feel panic when I hear of any fire.

Do you feel like you gained any strength from having lived through that experience? I don't know if this would be what you're considering a strength. But I know my relationship with God got really improved. I mean, I had always felt God in my life but being

in jail and living through that, I have never prayed as fervently as I prayed during that time. And yeah, that, that's what I would say. So, were you, were you fed? How did they do? And was there like, did they turn off any of the? So

we were, our cells were open three times a day. We were basically thrown bologna sandwiches. Um, there was no water. I remember not being able to flush. Uh, I couldn't get water out of the sink. Um, I remember they brought those brown containers filled with water

from the kitchen. I just don't remember how I got to it but there was nothing. Yeah, I, I think they opened, I think they had to let us out once a day to get water. They had to be because I just remember having to use that

because I couldn't, there was no water. Yeah. Yeah, it was crazy. So, I um I know that every module in the jail is different. So what I'm wondering is what was different about the module you were in programming? And so if you were in a module

where you were in your cell, eight hours or 24 hours a day, maybe this would have affected it differently. But I, as I understand it, you were in a module where you were out of your cell. Yeah, the majority of our time, I mean, we did

have some down time in our cell but we were out most of the morning for classes, they focused on programming. So it was interactive. We were in groups, we were with teachers. Um Yeah. So then this was a big, it was a shock. It was to

the system to not even be believe in yourself. And like you had mentioned, you were a mod worker and uh so you got probably got special privileges with that and we're out of your cell even more. Yeah, we um all the mod workers. Uh The CEO

S would let us out when everyone was locked down. Um So we could watch TV. We could take showers, we could make phone calls, we could do, you know, make our soup. We had the water because no, not, you know, 100 other people trying to use

it before us. So, would you say, like we agree that it was handled just terribly and um, I know I was there, which is not, it's, it's everybody knows this. And um, I know that we're very resilient and you're very resilient. But I can't, I can

imagine how it is at fire season because you get the, you get the flashback of not having any control. So that's said perfectly. Yeah, we had no control. And then, um when they did let you call home, was there like a limit? Like you got a

few minutes because as I recall, I want to say because there was such a long line of people, we had to keep it short. And so they were telling us, I think three or five minutes. Um, but that didn't give us enough time to check in

with all our loved ones. I mean that just that you don't, you might be able to connect with one person maybe. But yeah, it ok. Well, that's all. But I thank you so much for your time and thanks for all that info.