REDWOOD VALLEY >> Ravaged by fire, stained by acrid smoke, many of the people who live in Mendocino County are also upset by national media coverage of the fire storms.
“What’s irking people around here is the national news is only talking about Napa and Sonoma, and we’ve lost just as much here,” says Alison de Grassi, spokesperson for the Mendocino County Tourism Commission. “People have built their lives around these wineries and these ranches, and now they’re gone.”
She has already been evacuated once, making it out of her Redwood Valley house with her husband and dog, and is now preparing to be evacuated again.
“I want to tell the New York Times, people here are suffering, too. We have lost a lot and so many people have lost everything.”
The fire west of Mendocino National Forest was fueled by gusting winds that spread it across 19,000 acres by Monday night. It is one of 12 fires in Northern California, with a lot of attention paid to the devastation in Santa Rosa and other parts of Sonoma County and the Napa Valley. Altogether, the Northern California fires have consumed 115,000 acres and at least 1,500 structures, including 50 houses and 40 other structures in Redwood Valley.
The death toll Tuesday morning stood at 13, including three in Mendocino County, and 150 missing persons reports were filed. Twenty-four people in Mendocino County have been treated for burns.
At Lolonis Vineyards, deep in the fire-wracked Redwood Valley, winemakers are grappling with whether to pick their grapes. If they don’t, they will be tainted by smoke. If they do, they might not be able to get them past the fire lines.
Already lost to the fire are Frey Vineyards, Golden Vineyards and Oster Wine Cellars.
“The smoke is so thick, you can’t go outside,” says a heartbroken de Grassi. “It’s just disgusting. The winds are absolutely ferocious.”
She has lived in Mendocino, a rugged patch of coastline famed for its pristine beaches and redwoods, for a long time, but she has never seen anything like this.
“The fire was random and cruel,” she says. “One woman learned that her home was still standing, but her farm was gone.”
The large swath of county land that borders the north coast of the Pacific Ocean has long felt far removed from the Bay Area. But with the fast moving, fast growing fire, residents of the county feel even more isolated.
“This is scary now,” says Cindi Smith, who manages the Inn at Newport Ranch. “I went to Safeway and it was crazy. No bread. No milk. There was one piece of broccoli.”
Like many hotel managers on the coast, she is having to turn away folks fleeing from the fires.
“I just got a call from a guy looking to escape from Santa Rosa, but he needed 10 rooms for five nights,” she said. “I felt so bad. He was scared for his family. I wanted to help out, but we’re sold out.”
Dan Reed of Lula Cellars says his tasting room has been crowded with tourists who had to relocate from Napa and Sonoma. They are pouring into Mendocino County via Anderson Valley and stopping off at Lula en route.
“Knock on wood, we’ve been so blessed to be spared,” he said. “There are so many people displaced, so many refugees from the fire.”
