Fallen tree, power outage promps closure of Fort Ross School

While soaring winds picked up to 80 mph in this weekend’s storm, a particularly strong gust sent a tree down Sunday morning onto the roof of Fort Ross School, a small K-8 school northeast of Timber Cove.

The tree damaged the roof of the school’s administrative office, and heavy rainfall began flooding into the school.

The Fort Ross Fire Department, made up entirely of volunteer firefighters, rushed to the school and tried to divert the downpour from the school’s main building. They were met by nearby parents and community members who helped where they could.

“Husbands and boyfriends showed up with their hand tools,” Fort Ross Principal and Superintendent Jennifer Dudley said. “Usually everyone rolls up there sleeves up there, and we get things done … but everyone realized it was a much grander project than just us.”

The school serves 15 kids and is in a rural area of west county. Many of the roads leading out of the greater Santa Rosa area had been closed this weekend due to other fallen trees.

“The fire department is only a half mile away, and we couldn’t even get there because there were trees down,” said Heidi Horvitz, the Emergency Media Services Captain with Timber Cove Fire. “We were able to access the doors and assess damages. But because school is not in session, we had a lot of other things to do. We were really, really busy.”

Ultimately, Dudley and the Timber Cove Fire Department determined it was safer to let temporary fixes stand, and to leave the building until the roads were safer to send fire crews out.

“We had to choose keeping people safe over the integrity of the building,” Dudley said.

She spent the rest of Sunday securing a flood remediation team to clear the building of water as soon as the roads were safe. She then canceled school on Monday.

On Monday, small portions of the road were deemed safe, and a local excavating company was sent to Fort Ross School to remove a portion of the tree. The remaining debris will be cleared on Tuesday, Dudley said, leading her to close the school for a second day in a row.

But it’s not the only problem the storm posed for the small school.

“The power is still out,” she said. “We run on a well, so without power, we don’t have water.”

Dudley is working with the Sonoma County Office of Education to secure a backup generator from the County Office of Emergency Services or PG&E. But with so many across the county without power, the generators may be in high demand.

“It really hinges on the generator, because without power, we can’t safely open,” she said.

Waiting on a generator is a familiar feeling, Dudley said. A power failure caused by an atmospheric river last year was restored after waiting for a rented generator to make its way to the school.

“One of the issues that comes up is this issue of being on such an island of resources,” Dudley said. “When things happen, we're on our own, and we can't coordinate with others because we don't have any power.”

Report For America corps member Adriana Gutierrez covers education and child welfare issues for The Press Democrat. Reach her at Adriana.Gutierrez@pressdemocrat.com.