At least 17 dead in California Wildfires - HFA school burned

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A series of deadly Northern California wildfires regained momentum Wednesday as winds whipped back up, pushing blazes through parched hills and vineyards and prompting additional evacuations from an arc of flames that has killed at least 17 people, destroyed more than 2,000 buildings and battered the region’s renowned wine-growing industry.

Local officials ordered a fresh round of mandatory evacuations in flame-battered Sonoma County, where at least 11 people have died and about 180 remain missing. One of the massive fires that has been ravaging the region since Sunday advanced overnight toward populated areas, prompting the additional evacuations, Sonoma County Deputy Sheriff Brandon Jones said.

The two biggest wine-country fires, known as Tubbs and Atlas, grew overnight as conditions worsened and had torched a combined 54,000 acres by Wednesday morning, according to Cal Fire.

The fast-moving flames have swept through densely populated neighborhoods in California’s wine country over the past two days, causing residents to flee from homes in the middle of the night as smoke filled their rooms.

One couple had to jump into their pool as flames rushed across their land, taking occasional gasps for air as flames lapped at their backs.

High winds that whipped up 17 large fires had faded earlier Tuesday and humidity increased, assisting an operation that has drawn resources from throughout the state and neighboring Nevada. But officials warned that the sharp northern wind, known as a Diablo, would return, allowing only a brief window for firefighters to carve clearings in place to stop the fires from spreading to vulnerable populated areas.

That wind returned Tuesday night, along with lower humidity levels.

The only nonprofit school for highly-functioning autistic students in Santa Rosa was reduced to ashes amid the series of wild fires that ravaged Northern California, school officials confirmed Monday.

The Santa Rosa campus of Anova Center for Education, with classrooms located in the Luther Burbank Center of the Arts, was completed destroyed when a fast-moving fire ripped down the Fountaingrove area and engulfed the school, said Andrew Bailey, CEO and founder of Anova.
The blaze will leave 120 students ranging from 5 to 22 years old without a school to attend as officials work with districts who may not have the same resources to provide for the school’s curriculum. The only other school in the the area, the for-profit Lattice Educational Services, houses about 30-40 autistic children who are not necessarily college-bound, he said.
It was not immediately known if the Lattice building survived the blaze

Now, the school is seeking out any facility willing to offer classrooms to students. The school started as a passion project of Bailey’s more than 15 years ago and grew to two branches. The first one that started in Santa Rosa in 2000 and another started in Napa in 2006 then moved to Concord in 2012, he said.

They had spent two years raising $75,000 for a playground structure that was just delivered and burned to the ground in a box on the campus, he said. Plans for how to serve the students remain up in the air, Bailey said, but he’s already decided the new mascot for the school will be a Phoenix rising from the ashes.

The school launched a fundraising campaign to assist nine of its families impacted by the fire, as well as replace the books, equipment and furniture destroyed in the fire, Bailey said. It can be found at gofundme.com/anova.

Unable to rebuild, he said, “some of the families may have to leave. That’s what we’re trying to avoid.”

The school also is collecting donations through its site, anovaeducation.org. Checks can be mailed to the Anova administrative office at 220 Concourse Blvd., Santa Rosa, CA 95403.

For now, the school is looking at using classrooms in surrounding school districts. Several school districts have reached out to them and offered a few of their classrooms, according to Bailey. However, the school will have to split the students up and place them in different locations until they secure a large enough space for everyone.
Students should have a sense of normalcy in these temporary classrooms by October 30, if not before, Bailey said.