With just minutes to flee a fire, think what you'd take

It's not something anyone wants to imagine.

But it's hard to avoid when the sun continues to rise fiery orange, the horizon remains smoky and hundreds of residents are confronting the fragility of home as they flee fires.

If home is where the heart is, what would you take if you had to evacuate?

That's a question a variety of Sonoma County folks from mayor to travel agent grappled with and one that Santa Rosa Fire Capt. Steve Lowe has had a lot of time to think about. He's spent the past 24 years fighting fires, sometimes helping families rummage through rubble. So he's cautious about a threat to his Ukiah home.

Speaking by cell phone from the Shasta County fires, he said his family's photos are saved on CDs and locked in a fireproof safe with a file of copies of valued documents -- birth certificates, a marriage license, insurance and retirement papers.

"If it's not in the safe, it's not important," said Lowe, 45. "Everything else can be replaced."

Well, except for their Scottish terriers Molly and Murphy. They would come, too.

Santa Rosa Mayor John Sawyer has been contemplating what he would do with just a few minutes' fire warning since reading about a Southern California resident who had to leave with nothing.

His 10-year-old Lab mix, also named Molly, would, of course, be irreplaceable. And his canary, Rusty, who also is 10, but has "a set of lungs that would put a bird half his age to shame," Sawyer said.

"It made me very thoughtful about what I might do," he said.

His instinct would be to grab a box on his floor containing photos and family memorabilia he has yet to hang, after several years. "In this case, my infrequent procrastination might be a benefit," Sawyer said.

He might also tuck some artwork under his arm and grab copies of important documents, he said, though all the originals are held by his attorney.

Rohnert Park Mayor Jake Mackenzie said he'd reach first for his wife, Barbara, and then for his five cats, named for jazz and blues legends like Duke Ellington and Ray Charles.

His Sandy Brown vinyl albums and other jazz records would be next, along with his parents' wedding photo.

Santa Rosa City Manager Jeff Kolin would ensure his wife and two daughters were safe, then collect photos, mementos and his mini schnauzer, Lady, and cats, Candy and Princeton.

An emergency kit, cash and laptop completed his list.

A laptop is just about all Emmanuel Mota, 22, said he would take from his Healdsburg rental if he had to flee. An Apple Macbook Pro to be exact.

"It's my business," said Mota, a new media developer. "I'd imagine somebody would pick up photo books and other sentimental stuff but all my photos are on my computer."

Travel agent Lorene Romero, 47, would also take her Macbook, but for another reason: to "stay in communication."

She flew home to Windsor last week and said she was "shocked" to see the fires below the plane before arriving at the Sonoma County airport from Seattle. "It looked like an ocean of smoke," she said. "Once in a while we'd see big puffs of orange and know fire was there."

The 1989 earthquake shaped her view of disasters. She was in a car on the Bay Bridge, she said, and watched as a section split in half.

"It makes you kind of aware of the things you need for the future and what would happen if you do need to run," she said.

Now she's prepared for any emergency, she said, with copies of her passport, insurance papers, will, birth certificate, driver's license and credit cards in a folder near her desk.

She backs up her computer files on an external drive "in case the hard drive in the house burns down," she said.

Denise Elia, 30, an editorial assistant for O'Reilly Media in Sebastopol and a local actress, has thought about evacuation plans since witnessing the 9/11 terrorist attack on New York.

"Coming from that and moving here, as wonderful as it is, that stays with you," said Elia, who lives in Santa Rosa. "And then you see how the beautiful blue skies suddenly change to a smoky, hazy gray."

Her first thoughts in a fire would be her cat, photos and a mandolin played by her grandfather, an Italian folk singer.

"And my nana's antique heart necklace," Elia said. "My journals, my scrapbooks of shows I've done here, and I would probably take paintings from high school and the dried roses my boyfriend gave me."

It sounds like a lot, but she keeps those items in a trunk, ready at a moment's notice.

Infineon Raceway President Steve Page said he's also prepared, having evacuated his Oakland Hills home in the 1991 fires that killed 25 and destroyed more than 2,800 homes.

His house was spared, but the memory remains, especially now that recent fires mean "you can't see more than two miles around us," Page said.

His family now keeps a fireproof container inside their Sonoma home with photos and financial documents.

Former North Coast Rep. Doug Bosco owns a home in Santa Rosa and a ranch in Shasta County, where fires have burned thousands of acres. But he said there really isn't much he would fret about saving from either house. His wife and 17-year-old son are priorities, along with his golden retriever.

"I'd take him practically before anything else, and in some cases, anyone else," Bosco said.

Photos? His wife might want those, along with her wedding dress in the attic, he said.

But "we're not too 'thing' oriented; nothing in our house is worth stealing," Bosco said.

He's more sure of what he wouldn't take: old political pamphlets and "nasty hit pieces" in boxes in his basement.

He would hate to lose his books in a fire, but in the end, it's just stuff.

"It's people you don't want to see harmed -- friends and family, innocent people and firefighters," Bosco said. "I always think more of that."

You can reach Staff Writer Shadi Rahimi at 521-5280 or shadi. rahimi@ pressdemocrat.com.