00:00:00.009 - 00:00:23.079

Let me share my screen with you and show you the um like agreement form. Um I didn't send it to you, right? Because we were so, ok, I will just show you. Um I'll send this to you in an email and just have you sign it.

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I already filled out most of it. Ok. Yes, I didn't practice enough with my mom. Apparently it's ok. Don't stress at all. Um There you go. Ok. Um Can you see this? Yes. Ok. So I feel I filled out most of it, but I'll just send

00:01:01.009 - 00:01:17.709

this to you um, after we're done here and have you if you wouldn't mind just at the very bottom, signing it and then date and then emailing it back to me, right? Ok. Thank you so much. Um ok, so this interview is just about the tubs

00:01:17.720 - 00:01:34.589

fire, which I kind of told you, um about. So, um, we'll just get right into it if that's ok. And I ask you about your career after really quick if you don't mind. Um, ok, so, um we kind of watched a documentary. I'm not from this

00:01:34.599 - 00:01:51.470

area obviously. So I don't know too much. About it but we watched a documentary, um, and obviously it was very traumatic. Um, and a lot of people described it as, like, a weird, the night before is like a really weird event. So, would you say, do

00:01:51.480 - 00:02:07.250

you have any, like, thoughts on that? Oh, my gosh. I had to try to remember back to when it was all happening because I remember when I was there, there were two fires. So the tubs fire was the first one. Right. Right. Yeah. Ok. So, oh

00:02:07.260 - 00:02:26.639

my goodness. I remember the morning of a lot better than the night before it happened. Um It was very weird. We were all kind of like in limbo like what's gonna happen? What are we gonna do? Um And then the morning of I remember like me

00:02:26.649 - 00:02:41.130

and my roommates, we were, we all woke up super early and we could, like see the glow of the fire. We could see it. Yeah. And we were all kind of like, oh my God. Like, what are we gonna do? Right. Yeah. Um, like we started

00:02:41.139 - 00:02:54.940

talking to other people, other people were saying they were already packed up and leaving and then all of a sudden it felt kind of like chaos. Um, because we were hearing there was like so much traffic going in and out. Um We were like, oh my

00:02:54.949 - 00:03:17.160

God, like, are we safe? Is everything gonna be ok? And me and my roommates ended up staying I think that we stayed for a couple days actually. Um, and then ended up going, I think it was to Livermore, um, to one of our friend's house. So,

00:03:17.169 - 00:03:36.289

are you, you're not from this area? No, I'm not. So, I'm from super northern California. Oh, ok. Cool. Yeah. So you were living on campus during this time? I was off of campus. I was, yeah, I was living, um, in an apartment super, We were in

00:03:36.300 - 00:03:52.429

M section. Ok. Gotcha. You just roommates live together? Ok, cool. Ok. Wow. So you guys didn't decide to evacuate for like a couple days? Yeah, we stayed there. We didn't really think it was gonna be like that big of a deal and then we started seeing

00:03:52.440 - 00:04:13.690

like ash literally like, like paper just landing on our balcony and but on our apartment. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Did Sonoma State like send out some sort of like email or anything? Yeah, they sent out multiple emails. Um I remember, yeah, they sent out multiple

00:04:13.699 - 00:04:28.440

emails kind of talking. I think it was like mostly about the people that were on campus and their plan and like what they were gonna do for all of those students. It wasn't really like for any of the other students were on campus. Do you feel

00:04:28.450 - 00:04:48.989

like they did a good job at like spreading the awareness of what was going on? I think so because so we got emails but I also remember getting like, emergency phone calls. Um, and I think text messages too, kind of describing like, what was going on.

00:04:49.140 - 00:05:03.579

Yeah. Yeah. I, I can imagine, like, in that case, sometimes I would probably be the same way I'd be like, oh, it's not that big of a deal because, like, you don't think it's gonna be like that big of a fire because California, like, has been

00:05:03.589 - 00:05:20.320

on fire for quite some time now and now. So it's like it's easy to be like, oh, it's just another fire, they'll put it out but that's crazy, you know, because it was a really big one. Yeah. Um So let's see. Um ok, so you guys

00:05:20.329 - 00:05:38.519

decided to evacuate in like a couple of days. So how long did you stay with your friend, you said in Livermore? Livermore? Yeah. Oh God, I can't even remember how long I stayed over there. It wasn't super long. Um I'm like trying to remember like all

00:05:38.529 - 00:05:56.200

of like events that happened and led up to it. Um It was a long time ago now. Yeah, I know. Oh my God, because I graduated in 2019 and that was in 2017. Yeah. Yeah. To be honest with you, I cannot remember how long, yeah, I

00:05:56.230 - 00:06:16.630

know it was so long ago. Um Let me see what else I have here. Um Do you remember like going back to campus, like if there was any change to like either people's behavior or maybe you felt some change, like, internally like, yeah, it was like,

00:06:16.640 - 00:06:35.885

super eerie and weird going back to campus because when we were able to go back it was still smoky, still super smoky and like people were wearing masks. Um And it just felt weird because, I mean, half of Santa Rosa, like, burnt down. Right. You know,

00:06:35.954 - 00:06:52.059

and it's like, you don't, you don't really know what to tell people. Um, because those are people's homes, like, some of the people were local. Yeah. So it was very, I would, like, describe it as eerie for sure. And I'm sure, like, if you had some

00:06:52.070 - 00:07:07.355

professors that had, like, their homes burned down or, I don't know, um, other students that you would know. Um, it was probably, it's hard. Like, what do you see? Yeah. And I remember the president, I don't think she's the president anymore. Um, but the previous president,

00:07:07.364 - 00:07:22.570

I think her house was burning down or something. So I remember them, like, talking about that and she was like, I think they were, like, sleeping and, like, got up and, like, ran outside and they were, like, in their pajamas and, like, barefoot and, like, had

00:07:22.579 - 00:07:40.320

to leave and evacuate. So it was really sad to, like, think about that. Um, and just people having to go through that in such, such an amazing area. Totally. Yeah. Campus didn't, um, you guys, we had a break for a couple of weeks, right? I think

00:07:40.329 - 00:07:52.790

so. Go back for a few weeks. Right. Yeah. It might have been, like, two or three weeks. Oh, ok. Yeah, I can't remember for sure how long, but it was a while. Ok. Did you guys, were you, was it kind of like COVID where you had

00:07:52.799 - 00:08:20.119

to be, like, online or no, or? Did you just go first? I don't even, I don't even remember doing classes. I been, like, we were off. Ok. Yeah. Yeah. Hm. Well, um, did you, were you like, working at the time or anything? I was working at

00:08:20.130 - 00:08:36.500

the, uh, the bookstore, I think at the time. Sonoma State bookstore. Yeah. Yeah. Ok. Ok. I was gonna ask if, like, you had a job that was affected or anything like that because I know there was like, businesses that burned down and stuff. So. Yeah. No.

00:08:36.510 - 00:08:55.640

Fortunately, er, it was a good thing that I did not. Yeah. Yeah. Um, well, is there anything else that, like, you wanna share about that time? I know it was six years ago I can remember but it was honestly kind of like such a crazy experience

00:08:55.650 - 00:09:15.229

going through that, like, while you're in college because it's not something like you expect. I thought I was gonna be more in like an earthquake situation than, like, have the city burning down. And it was a really weird feeling because, I mean, I was still young.

00:09:16.059 - 00:09:29.820

Um, I was like, barely, pretty much starting my college career and everything. So, like, I didn't really have my parents around so trying to figure out like, oh my God. Like, what do we do? Do we go right now? Do we stay? It was a very

00:09:29.830 - 00:09:45.224

weird feeling. Were your parents freaking out when they found out, or? Um, I don't think so. Not that I, I don't think my parents were, like, super, like, freaked out about it. I mean, my dad's a firefighter, he's a volunteer firefighter. So he kind of knows

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what they do to, like, protect areas and stuff and make sure everything is ok. So they weren't too bad. Um, I think mostly because they knew I had somewhere close to go because my parents' house is like, 6.5 to 7 to 8 hours depending on traffic

00:10:04.309 - 00:10:24.289

from school. Ok. Ok. Yeah. Yeah. Um, ok. Well, as you can tell this is like, my first time doing an interview. So I'm like, I don't really know. Um, I'll probably just leave it at that. Um, yeah. Thank you so much for answering all of that.

00:10:24.299 - 00:10:35.409

Um, and I might hit you up about someone else if I do happen to need 1/5 person. Yeah. Let me know. But just as a side, I am curious about your job because you're a