Five years after the firestorm, a bittersweet reminder of community pain and strength in Coffey Park

On Saturday morning in Santa Rosa’s Coffey Neighborhood Park, over 80 residents, officials and first responders sat in a close grouping of white chairs or stood in a large semicircle fanning out across the park.

They were gathered for a ceremony put on by the City of Santa Rosa and County of Sonoma to mark the fifth anniversary of the 2017 North Bay wildfires, including the Tubbs Fire that leveled the same neighborhood where people now stood on green grass surrounded by rebuilt homes under a perfectly blue sky.

In similar juxtaposition, the fire survivors and professionals and local and state representatives who took to the small podium still mourned but also celebrated resilience, acknowledged failures but touted heroic efforts and marked progress while stressing the work to be done in the “new normal” of climate-fueled droughts and fires.

“It was a devastating feeling that night of Oct. 8 knowing that so many lost everything, so many barely escaped that inferno and so many were suffering, and I don’t know about you, but that trauma still sticks with me today… and I think this feeling is going to stick with us the rest of our life,” State Sen. Mike McGuire said.

“That said, after the smoke cleared and the fire was finally put out, I am still in awe of what this community has accomplished. Don’t get me wrong the weeks and months following the fire were grueling… But what seemed like an insurmountable challenge at the time eventually transitioned into a rallying cry that rings true today.”

The hourlong occasion was a combination of emotional tributes, practical fire safety advice, testaments to strength, grim statistics and inspiring ones, some laughter and some tears.

The mood was somber, tender, tearful and loving.

Lynn Dorsey attended “to commemorate the anniversary of this traumatic event that happened to our family and appreciate the community and how far we’ve come,” she said.

She and her husband, Bill, have lived in Coffey Park for over 20 years. They completed their rebuild and moved back 3 years ago this week. Crediting neighbors and their deep roots in the community, returning was the “best decision we ever made,” Lynn said.

The fires five years ago burned over 6,000 homes in the region. Though the scars are still there, Coffey Park’s rebuilding has been impressive, with the vast majority of the more than 1,400 destroyed homes now rebuilt, thanks in significant part to community efforts through groups such as Coffey Strong. Not all areas devastated by wildfires have seen the same success.

Rick Bassett, who lives in southwest Santa Rosa, came to the commemoration “just to remember the tragedy and be with people,” he said. He’d been at a wedding in Southern California when he got a call in the middle of the night about the fire five years ago. He drove through the night to get back. After finding his house spared, he headed to a local church to help with efforts to support those who weren’t so lucky.

Today, “it’s really good to hear people’s reflections,” he said. He noted the stark difference in rebuild progress between Coffey Park and Paradise, where his in-laws live, that was leveled by the 2018 Camp Fire.

Before the speeches, people chatted and hugged and retold their evacuation stories. One woman walked over from her nearby home. “It’s been a crazy five years,” she said. “That’s why we wanted to be part of the day — the emotion.”

A white rose bush on her property was one of the only things left after the fire. It’s still producing flowers, “a symbol of hope,” she said.

After a moment of silence for the 44 people lost in the 2017 fires, one of the first speakers, Oscar Pardo, started by apologizing for being under-dressed.

“I wanted to come to this occasion in the same clothes that I wore when I left my home. This is exactly what I wore,” he said.

“Resiliency for me now comes to mean something different than it did five years ago,” he added. “For me, it now means that there was tons of tears that were shed, sweat equity that had to be endlessly poured, unwanted feelings of pain, anger, sadness, emptiness, frustration (that) all had to be dealt with, but there’s also a recognition that we have to be better stewards of our environment.”

Pardo finished with a quote from author Craig D. Lounsbrough: “Starting over is an acceptance of a past we cannot change and unrelenting conviction that the future can be different and the wisdom to now use that past to make a better future.”

You can reach “In Your Corner” Columnist Marisa Endicott at 707-521-5470 or marisa.endicott@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @InYourCornerTPD and Facebook @InYourCornerTPD.