Rebuilding Sonoma County: Rincon Valley man survives two fires in two years

In the early morning hours of Nov. 8, 61-year-old Christopher Kerr awakened in his Paradise home to a red and purple sunrise that seemed more vibrant than usual. He felt a familiar anxiety rush through his body as he breathed in smoke and noticed the powerful winds whipping outside his bedroom window. Kerr grabbed his phone by his bedside and looked to see if there were any fire alerts. He didn’t see any, so he checked his phone’s news app. On it, an excited newscaster explained how first responders were evacuating upper Paradise in Butte County.

Just then his sister, who lived nearby, called with the words he dreaded: “The fire is coming your way ... leave.”

“It just exploded so fast, the red smoke was thick and homes on the ridge were starting to burn,” he said. “All I could think of was to grab my cat and run.” Kerr climbed into his car and drove the nine miles to Highway 99 in a panic. He looked in his rearview mirror and described the Camp fire as an erupting volcano with embers spewing out onto drivers gridlocked in the choking smoke.

“I was hysterical and called a friend who actually talked me out of having a panic attack and gave me directions as I winded my way to Chico,” he said.

He asked himself, “Why is this happening again?”

Just 13 months earlier, Kerr narrowly escaped another deadly wildfire while living in Santa Rosa’s Rincon Valley. “I knew I was experiencing PTSD the second time and it was an unreal experience,” he reflected.

Back on Oct. 9, 2017, Kerr, a graphic artist, was enjoying a typical Sunday evening relaxing at home and preparing for a Monday with clients. He had gone to bed late and noticed the winds thrashing with a force he had never seen or heard before. Just after 3 a.m. the howling wind woke him up. He looked outside his window and saw the ridge on fire. He only had fifteen minutes to get out.

Kerr grabbed his cat, his computer with all his artwork and even some salad dressing and a hamper full of dirty clothes. “I just didn’t know what to get,” he said. “At the time it didn’t really make sense.”

Weeks later, when reality came into focus, he found he was in the middle of a housing crisis. He desperately wanted to stay in Sonoma County but even small apartments were listed for $2,500. Landlords expected exorbitant deposits on demand and suddenly a no-pet policy had become the norm.

Kerr could not replicate the sweet deal he had living in a 600-square-foot cottage on a three-acre parcel, paying only $1,480 a month which included water, utilities and trash. “It was pleasant, like living in Santa Rosa in the 1950s except Oliver’s Markets was just down the street,” he said.

Like hundreds of other fire survivors in Sonoma County, Kerr could no longer compete with market rates and felt he had no other choice but to move out of the beloved area where he had lived for 40 years.

He had heard some nice things about the town of Paradise because his sister’s family lived there. Kerr thought he could get a new start in the more rural community up north in Butte County.

Kerr settled into a house twice the size of his Santa Rosa cottage - for only $900 a month. His new two-bedroom home, with gleaming hardwood floors and a two-car garage, was perched on a peaceful third-of-an-acre parcel with established gardens. He began filling up his house with new possessions.

“I bought everything from potato peelers to gardening tools, plants, fixtures and furniture,” he said, chuckling. “Some people in the neighborhood were even getting suspicious why I was getting a new package every other day.”

Kerr considered it a coping mechanism to deal with his grief after losing almost everything he owned in the Tubbs fire.

Now, he has lost everything to fire for the second time in two years.

“It’s really strange. I had an easier time when I lost everything the second time,” he said. “I realized that it was all just stuff. I really didn’t need everything I had bought. In a way it was kind of freeing.”

With his cat in tow, Kerr made his way back to Santa Rosa several weeks ago for the first time since the Sonoma County fires.

“I didn’t realize I would be so emotional, but it just felt like home,” he said.

He had been missing his church, friends, family members, familiar coffee shops and stores and his precious Goat Rock Beach in Jenner.

“To drive to Goat Rock from Paradise was 200 miles, from Santa Rosa it’s 20 miles,” he said. “It’s where I find peace and put things into perspective. ... I am a Zen Buddhist, so I ask, when can these lessons of impermanence stop?”

Kerr is happy to be back, renting a room with a private bathroom for $1,000 a month in Rincon Valley. He is using the money he gets from his renter’s insurance to make his payments.

“I was smart this time; I bought renter’s insurance,” he smiles. “If you live in California you should make the investment. It’s very affordable.”

He doesn’t know where he can afford to live in Santa Rosa long term. One-bedroom apartments are still going for $2,000 a month. But this time Kerr trusts he has the support to make it work.

“I have a tendency to be really hard on myself. Sometimes I think I don’t matter, but when I came back here I realized how many people were happy to see me,” he said, pausing. “I have so many friends who love me - It’s so healing to know this is where I belong.”