Brandy Ely interview on the 2017 Tubbs Fire, April 11, 2023

Hey. Ok. Well, thank you for coming to the interview with me, Brandy. Um, the first question, um, have you ever experienced a traumatic natural disaster event before the 2017 tubs fires? Not a natural disaster. Um, I was in a lot of earthquakes when we lived in

Japan as a child, but it was never, no, not, nothing like the fires. Nothing like fires. Ok. Did the earthquakes prepare you in any way for the fires or for this natural disaster? Yeah, you need to learn to be, you learn that you have to be

calm because there's nothing you can't change what's going on around you. I agree. I, did you suffer any losses, um, during the wildfires? No, we were lucky. We didn't have nobody that I know or love had their houses burned down or any of that thing. Um,

my daughter had to evacuate but I was incarcerated. So I wasn't really a part of that and, um, they evacuated for a while and then as far as everything went, they went home, they had their house and everything still. Yeah. So speaking of, um, where you

were located during the fires, you just speak on that just a little bit more about where you were incarcerated um during the disaster when it occurred. Ok, I was incarcerated at the Santa Rosa Adult Main um facility detention facility. And um I was there previous to

the fire, I, I was in there since March and the fires happened in October. So there was just like a rhythm. I already had like a whole deal going. So um I was there, it wasn't, my charges weren't horrendous. But, um, I, I knew I was

gonna be there for a little while and then this happened. I don't know how specific. I think you probably have other questions. Yes. Oh yeah. Um Was it difficult for you to stay in contact with family members during the, during that time? We couldn't, we could

not call anybody. We could not talk to anybody. Um, we did not know what was going on. We weren't, um, we could try to talk through the vents because I lived, I was in a single cell and, but if you were getting too loud, you would

get in trouble. Um, people would be so worried about their family is that you would hear them wailing just so, uh, let me call home and, and we could not, we were not, we weren't even really given information on what was going on and there's no

window. Your cell window is a tiny little brick, the size of a brick and we could see that the world was orange but no, no, no contact with our family members until 10 days later. Hm. Did they give any reason to why? There was so long

of a pause? Well, we had, um, CEO S who weren't even showing up for work. So we had CEO S covering for other C OS. Every single person was locked down in their cells, including the people who made our food, cleaned our, cleaned our area. Everybody

was locked in their cell because they made the decision not to, um, evacuate us where the, where the jail is located is two blocks from where the fire, what came to. So we had ash and smoke coming into our cells. So they advised if we just

wet a towel and stuck it under the door that, that might help a little. And we were confused because we didn't know like had we been able to call home? We would have had more of an idea of what was going on since the jail had

decided not to tell us for fear that they would scare everybody. Um, we were scared. So, yeah, unknown is scary in general. Uh-huh, some information. Oh, do you recall how you found out about the tubs fire on the night of October 8th? We didn't find out

until two days later. And, um, what we found out we heard, we heard and I remember something about, they said, oh, and the fire jumped the freeway and I was like, fire jumped, what's going on out there? Like, in my mind it was like there was

a little fire. We, we were getting, we, we didn't have any clue that it was like surrounding the whole entire county. And so we didn't find out for a couple of days and then they kind of like, let us know. Oh, well, everything's gonna be ok.

But mainly any information we got about the fires came from the looters that were getting arrested for looting houses that were vacant. They had more information on the fires and gave us, that's how we got it. Oh, crazy. Wow. I can't imagine the amount of stress

that would fit you under. Just complete unknown and only a windows out of. So, I mean. Mhm. What kind of stress did that put you under? How did that, um, affect your mental health? If, if that, if at all? Yeah, it did. And I, I suffer

from anxiety and I, um, I now am I now have PTSD and it stems started with the unknown of being trapped in a box full of smoke. No idea what's happening and being fed three times a day by them opening a door and throwing in a

sandwich and closing the door as if I was a dog and they were feeding the dog, you know, but it's the vicious dogs because they're just throwing it in at you. We didn't have water for three days, we weren't able to come out and shower for

eight days. We could not flush our toilets. We could not drink from our sinks. Nothing. Then they finally started letting us come out of our cell to just grab some water and go right back. And C OS are hard, man. They just, if they're told not

to tell, they don't tell mm one woman, her husband after we were able to go out and use the phone, one woman's husband said he told her he called the jail and he said they're two blocks from the fire. What are your, what are your plans?

And his re the response he got was the building is made of brick. Don't worry about it. So it, it was handled very poorly. I think the way they handled it is more of the reason for the fears. Iiii I can see that aspect of it,

but at the same time, it's human beings are at risk and lives are really at risk right now and that needs to be protected to just as anyone else getting out of Santa Rosa. And I just wish that that was in place for everyone that was

in the facility to Yeah, we do too. And, and yeah, but um oh well, um how would you describe the person you were then compared to the person you are now the person I was then was mad and angry. And like you're nobody's telling us anything

and we deserve, we deserve, we deserve. And the person I am now is like, well, you know what? They did their best as much as it still pains me to say that because they were in a situation they had never experienced before either. So it made

me a more resilient person. I, you know, typically people that I've been talking to and, and interviewing have a real fear at fire season. I, I don't because I'm experiencing them here where at my house or wherever, where I can leave and get to safety. And

I appreciate the fact that I'm no longer in that situation. And I think it made me more resilient. I appreciate that respect. But, and, and another thing, it kind of makes you never want to go back to being stuck in a box and because you never,

you know, you just want to stay on the up and up. So who was the most helpful to you during this time or how, how it's called it, it's called your vent mate if you don't have a cellmate, but your vent connects to somebody else who's

in a single cell that can be someone you can talk to. And she was, her name was Nikki and she was the most helpful because we prayed together and we were able to talk and I was able to tell her, I don't understand. This is really

weird and she'd say, yeah, it is. And So I was not blessed with a cellmate, but at the same time, toilets didn't flush and things like that. So, being alone was better, but I had the vent mate who, she was awesome. So that was who was

the most helpful? And she was the most helpful by being there to talk and listen and she was going through the same thing as I was. So, I wish I could say the CEO S were helpful but they weren't. So it's unfortunate um after this whole

experience, um how are you coping or what mechanisms are you using to help you cope? I just um I cope just fine because I technically I, I suffer from um anxiety anyway. It's one of my and so um if I don't sit around and think about

this, I guess that's how I cope. I don't think about this and I don't talk about this because the day that I actually was gonna share with class about it, I sat in my car and when everything came back, I just started crying, realizing that I

absolutely do not think about this. And that's my coping mechanism. And it's also one of a few of my friends who were in there at the time that that's how I met him. Um They too don't think about it. Let's see. So, if you were to

relive this disaster, would there be anything that you do differently? I, I would try not to get angry because being mad and afraid, scared and sad, you know, I would have, if I could, I should have taken Matt out of the equation. That's what I would

do. I wouldn't, I'd allow myself to be scared and worried but angry didn't help anything. It was just another emotion piled on that nobody needed. Where did the, um, anger stem from if you don't mind me asking, um, the fact that they would give us no

information, the fact that I was a Celiac, which means I can't eat wheat and I was being thrown a bologna sandwich three times a day. Or else I could starve. They said the anger was in the way that we were being treated because no matter what,

we still saw ourselves as humans and it felt like they didn't. So I was mad and because they didn't let us call home, not letting us call home was the, I think that was the source of every single woman in. There's anger. Mhm. Uh, it was

terrible. You would hear women crying, banging on the door. I need my, I need to call my kids. I need and I, you know, it's like intense when you're hearing all of that and there's smoke in your room and there's ash in your room and the

light and the only thing you could see is an orange window and then people are screaming and banging and cry and, yeah. Hm. So at the end of this experience. Was there any additional support given to um the inmates from the CEO S or from any

mental health specialist? So, I was in a module where we did programming and we would do things with mental health specialists about um drug and alcohol. And as soon as we could go back to normal programming, we had them there, we had the therapists and we

had the people who had been with us the whole time teaching before we were locked, locked up, they came back and that was just, it was a blessing. We're the only module that had had that. So I am not sure I can't say what the other

modules offered the women or the men. But I know the programming module, those people came in ready to go gung ho. They were gonna counsel, they were gonna talk us through. They were not gonna let this bring us back to a place where we were drinking

or using. So that was uh something that I was super fortunate to have. Happy to hear that they had that in place afterwards. Oh, can you tell me about any strength that you have discovered through this experience? I'm very, very, I do not, I'm very strong

during fire season because I feel like I might have been through the worst. I didn't lose anything. But when you sit there and you're afraid for your life, y you know, that, that's pretty much the worst. So, now I know, you know, fire seasons are horrible

but they don't affect me like they did before if we even had one before. Because, like, this was like, one of the biggest things that we had seen as a county. Mhm. Oh. Is there anything else that you would like to expand on or touch on

an account? From your experience with the tubs? Fires? I don't think so. I mean, I think in the long run, I probably just stuck, like, as far as I can't remember what I did while I was in my cell. But I know it wasn't crying and

pounding. So I'm assuming I just wet my towel, stuck it under the door and read 1000 books. So that, that's the thing about me. I'm not, yes, I was upset and everything, but I'm not the type to stand at the door and cry. It was heart

wrenching though to hear them. It really was. And some women were screaming. They couldn't breathe because they didn't have their asthma inhalers and were breathing smoke. I had a friend who went out, um, pregnant, went out to an appointment, came back with a mask and they

confiscated it. They didn't let her have a mask to breathe through. Why? Why is that? That's, I don't know, it sticks out in my mind. It's a huge thing. They took away her mask because it's because it came from the outside and you can't have outside

things but it, there was a hospital mask. Yeah. Well, if that's the case it'd be nice to. Maybe because I have a mask. I was just gonna say that maybe because we all didn't have them but they could have supplied them. Yeah. No, I, I think

pretty much that's, that's all, I mean, we were stuck in there. It was boring. Don't have a lot to tell but we, it wasn't, it was not done correctly. And if you Google the M AD F the main adult um detention facility during the 2017 fire,

I have yet to find anything on it. It's as if it never happened and I do believe that has to do with the way it was, it was taken care of. And I find that interesting. That's why I'm adding it. They don't wanna receive backlash or

it could possibly the backlash from that. Yep. But I lived through it. We all lived through it. So it's good. Well, one last question, is there something else you think I should know to better understand the challenges that you face during the wildfires. Some, I think

some people who were homeless that were becoming afraid were doing, doing things to get that put in in the jail. So in that sense, I, I have to always think about how one vulnerable population there, there might be one even more vulnerable than that. And that's

how I view I was in a, in a place, uh maybe safe place and there were people out on the street. So I do appreciate the fact that I could be warm and cozy on a bed while the world was burning around me and never had

to see it. I never ever saw my county burn. Like some of the other people in, in my life had to had to witness. I try to look on the bright side. I, I really love the optimism, especially, especially in the hard times, um, unforeseen times,

but all of this was very insightful. It was very interesting to hear the other perspective side of things. Um And to hear about other inmates stories too that you had, like, I just, I would have never, I would have never heard their side as you said,

it's not even documented online. And so you sharing these oral stories is very helpful. Ok, sorry if I went over. No, that is excellent. This is excellent. Ok, you are great. All right. So I'm gonna pause or stop recording now.