Press Democrat reporters to share fire experience at San Francisco radio event

On the morning of Oct. 10, veteran Press Democrat reporter Martin Espinoza at first woke up feeling OK. Then the memories of all that he witnessed the day and night before quickly sank in - the heat radiating from fires on evacuated roads, the sounds of propane tanks popping, hundreds of Fountaingrove homes burning before his eyes - and he was overwhelmed by a sickening feeling in his stomach.

It all really happened, he realized, the worst catastrophe to ever strike Sonoma County - and ultimately the most destructive outbreak of wildfire ever in California.

“And then it start to hit me like what everybody's going to have go through for a very, very long time and how we're probably going to be writing about this for a very, very long time,” Espinoza said.

Espinoza and fellow Press Democrat reporter Julie Johnson will share their experience covering the devastating October firestorm at "The Fire Tapes," a radio event in San Francisco Saturday hosted by KQED's The Bay and WNYC's Snap Judgment.

“It's important to tell stories in order to understand and analyze what happened,” said Johnson, who was the first reporter to show up in The Press Democrat newsroom in the early morning hours of Oct. 9.

While Espinoza spent the pre-dawn hours Oct. 9 with photographer Kent Porter shooting Facebook Live videos at Kaiser Permanente, Coffey Park, Fountaingrove and other areas, Johnson was in the newsroom with other reporters making phone calls to first responders to gain a sense of what was happening. That round-the-clock work day was the first in span of 23 days before the fires in Sonoma County were fully contained. Across the region, including Napa, Mendocino and Lake counties, more than 6,200 homes were destroyed and 40 people killed.

In April, The Press Democrat was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the highest honor in American journalism, for its breaking news coverage of the wildfires.

“It's an incredible honor and something to celebrate, but it's because the worst thing imaginable happened here. I hope it just means we did a good job fulfilling our role and our duty to tell the stories of Sonoma County,” Johnson said.

"The Fire Tapes" will also feature fire survivors and a Cal Fire official. The program is part of three weeks of COAL+ICE festival programs examining the effects of climate change in various fields, including business, culture, science, politics and media.

The program will be led by Devin Katayama, host of KQED's The Bay, a storytelling program where he speaks with reporters to better understand daily news.

The emcee on Saturday will be Gynn Washington of WNYC's Snap Judgment, a weekly national radio show that presents dramatic personal stories.

You can reach Staff Writer Susan Minichiello at 707-521-5216 or susan.minichiello@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter@susanmini.