UPDATE Friday, Oct. 25:
The evacuee shelter at the Healdsburg Community Center still has plenty of room as of Friday morning, Oct. 25. Red Cross workers and Healdsburg Mayor David Hagele are stressing that there is still room and plenty of resources available from mental health services to food and a place for pets.
Pam Chappell, a Red Cross volunteer, said around 90 evacuees, mostly vineyard workers, came into the evacuation center on Thursday, Oct. 24.
Chappell said there is still room for another 50 to 60 evacuees.
“We had a bunch of farm workers come in that were out picking and we got them all accommodated, there were reports going out that we were at capacity and it is not true, we still have plenty of room,” said Healdsburg Mayor David Hagele.
Chappell said there will be portable showers this afternoon and mental health services are available as well as a chiropractor.
Alma Bowen, executive director of Nuestra Comunidad, a nonprofit that focuses on emergency preparedness, was at the shelter contracting with Healdsburg Corazon to provide help with registration.
Bowen said now they are working on the recovery process, getting hotel vouchers for families and making sure folks have a free place to stay until Monday.
She said volunteers are welcome and items like socks and wash-clothes are needed.
Hagele visited the center Friday morning and emphasized that Healdsburg is open and has power and has various resources available.
“This is huge,” he said, pointing to the mobile pet shuttle. “What I have been saying in the interviews is that one of the things that we’ve been able to offer here is that sense of comfort.”
Hagele continued, “Being able to bring your pets and knowing that your pets are safe is huge for people. We also can accommodate families … and have mental health services through the Red Cross and I talked to them this morning and she was saying how it was nice for people to just have somebody to go talk to. This smoke right now … it triggers,” Hagele said noting the thick smoke in the air.
Hagele’s message to Geyserville is that Healdsburg is here and ready to help with open arms.
“This is a comfortable spot. We’re in a supporting role for our neighbors who have been going through some traumatic things. They can come here, settle down, take a deep breath, recharge their devices,” Hagele said. “We are here for you. Our doors are open. We have food. We have power. Whatever we can do to help we are going to try to do.”
UPDATE: 8 p.m. Oct. 24, according to Corazon Healdsburg, the Healdsburg Community Center has beds available.
As the Kincade Fire rages in Geyserville with 10,000 acres burned at 0% containment, an evacuation center was opened at the Healdsburg Community Center around 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 23.
Red Cross volunteer Virginia White said that as of around 9:45 a.m. on Oct. 24, there were about 40 to 45 people registered at the center.
At around 1:40 p.m. on Thursday, District 4 Supervisor James Gore said that evacuees are being directed to go to the Santa Rosa Vet’s Building (1351 Maple Ave, Santa Rosa) as the Healdsburg shelter is at full capacity.
“We were able to mobilize here at about 11:30 p.m., open the doors and start to get things rolling. Our team came in immediately and we are fortunate that we keep a Red Cross trailer here on site with all of the supplies to operate an evacuation center. We had cots down by midnight,” said Mark Themig, Healdsburg community services director.
The Red Cross has been handling most of the sheltering logistics and about 15 to 20 Healdsburg city staff is on site handling the facility side of the center and providing meals.
The center is pet friendly and has a mobile pet van that can house a number of pets. There is also space for livestock trailers in the back parking lot behind the center, where evacuee arrivals are being staged. The front lot was completely full by around 9:30 a.m.
The Red Cross has set up sleeping areas, food and resources for animals. The Sonoma County Office of Education also has counselors on site if needed.
“We’re just here to support any students, families and provide a safe space and help support the community during a tough time,” said Nicole Tafoya and Shauna Hamilton, both mental health fire recovery counseling specialists with the Sonoma County Office of Education care counseling team.
There was also a message board set up inside the center for those looking for loved ones as well as information on a claims contact center with Farmers Insurance.
Several people were sitting outside with their dogs and people trickled into the center gathering fruit and coffee, waiting to hear more information.
Kaylynn Reeb and William Boutin were one such couple waiting to hear more information about fire containment, not knowing where they will go to hook up their RV.
The couple came to the center from the Geyserville Isis Oasis Sanctuary and hostel around 7 a.m. with their dogs Watson and Ranger.
“We got the Nixle alert last night and I got things packed just in case and then the mandatory evacuation order came in about 5 a.m. and we started prepping and getting the dogs ready to go and the sheriff’s department came through with the lights and the sirens so we packed up and here we are,” Reeb said.
They said they weren’t able to see flames from where they were but that it was very smoky.
“When we got about halfway between Geyserville and Healdsburg it still looked like it was night time because of the smoke,” Boutin said.
This is their second time fleeing from a wildfire. The two had to evacuate from the Pocket Fire from Geyserville in October 2017.
“Our original home burned two years ago,” Reeb said.
Healdsburg City Manager David Mickaelian said it is hard to say if they expect the center to be open for the next few days.
“Really it is going to be based on the fire activity … so if the county starts letting people back into their homes then obviously we’d wind things up here, but as long as evacuation orders are in place we’ll be open here,” Mickaelian said.
The city of Healdsburg still only has an evacuation warning. There are currently no ordered evacuations.
“We just want to be vigilant,” he said. “The city has taken a lot of steps over the past year, we’ve sent out the emergency preparedness brochure and we strongly advise folks to take a look at that, we have it online, but just be vigilant, stay tuned to what’s happening. We are also monitoring it in real time and we are going to let folks know if we want to do advisory evacuations.”
Throughout the morning Healdsburg Police have been in the area making sure the community knows that at this point there are no evacuations for the city of Healdsburg.
“We’ve been providing high visibility in our neighborhoods we want the community to know that we are here and that at this point there are no evacuation orders, it is still safe to be in Healdsburg as we sit here right now, trying to get that word out. We have our evacuation plans ready to go in the event that they become necessary,” Healdsburg Police Chief Kevin Burke said. “Right now it is just a high state of readiness, a high state of security. We recognize that people may want to leave the area because of the smoke and the potential for a fire issue so we want high visibility to make sure that they know we’re watching. All available personnel have been called in.”
Burke continued, “We want people to use their best judgment if it becomes necessary to evacuate, we are watching it so carefully if it does become time to evacuate we are going to be able to give people the notice that they need to be able to do it in an orderly fashion and as you can see we have a great evacuation center open here for people in the area that have had to be evacuated.”
