North Coast Builders Exchange replaced tools of those who lost them in the fires

October’s devastating firestorms were still burning when a local nonprofit contractors’ association recognized the immediate need to get tools back into the hands of its members and their employees, who were personally hit by the fires.

Many in the construction trades “lost not only their homes, but they literally lost the tools of their trade,” said Keith Woods. He’s chief executive officer with North Coast Builders Exchange, a service and advocacy group with a membership of almost 1,200 licensed contractors, sub-contractors and others affiliated with the construction industry.

As the exchange was considering ways to help, Santa Rosa resident Jon Richards of Apex Tool Group was thinking about “all those white trucks you see in Coffey Park,” the neighborhood that lost some 1,300 homes in the Tubbs fire.

Richards, sales operations manager with Apex, started reaching out to tool manufacturers across the country who quickly got on board to help the tradesmen and women in Coffey Park and elsewhere affected by the fires.

With support from local lumber and home improvement stores and individual donors, North Coast Builders Exchange teamed up with Richards to open a distribution center for a drop-in tool replacement program.

They offered nearly $250,000 worth of hand tools, everything from hammers, screwdrivers and drills to extension cords and safety goggles. Some 200 people received tools: carpenters, landscapers, laborers, plumbers, plasterers, house painters, sheet metal workers, mechanics and electricians, among others.

“The program has really been critical,” Woods said. “We’ve heard it from everyone who walked out the door.”

Evan Hughes, 31, is among those who stopped by an expansive warehouse in Windsor to select tools offered free to those with FEMA case numbers.

A project engineer at Midstate Construction Corp. in Petaluma, Hughes gained more than tools at the giveaway. He got a much-needed dose of compassion and left with a glimmer of optimism, something, he said, “that’s critical to my mental health.”

Hughes had moved to Santa Rosa from the East Coast only a few months before the fires. He and his fiancée, Jessica Wentz, lost their home when the Tubbs fire raged through their Mark West Springs neighborhood. They were living in a guesthouse adjacent to his childhood home, which also burned in the fire.

The tool replacement program provided Hughes “a measure of independence,” something that’s been elusive since the fires, he said.

“It’s just seeing people who don’t know you, reaching out like that,” Hughes said. “It means a lot. It’s someone going out of their way to give you a measure of control in your life again. It’s empowering in a way that’s difficult to describe. The point is that they care.”

David Brown, who managed the program from the 8,300-square-foot warehouse donated by Pruitt Industrial Park, agreed.

“This was a healing process here,” he said.

The devastation from the fires “was pretty much widespread in the industry,” Brown said. He estimates about 80 percent of those who received tools were from Coffey Park.

Recipients left the distribution center, on average, with about $1,000 to $1,200 worth of tools.

Mead Clark Lumber, Healdsburg Lumber Co. and Friedman’s Home Improvement were among the businesses that gave generously. Additional donations came from people as far away as the South Bay, where a radio station announced the need for quality hand tools, new or slightly used.

Initially offered to North Coast Builders Exchange members and their employees, the program expanded to include others in the construction trades.

“It’s not solving the problem. We just figured this is what we could do,” Woods said. “It sure helped out a lot of people.”

Santa Rosa resident Magdalena Lopez was ecstatic when she heard about the program. She stopped by to gather tools to surprise her 60-year-old father, José, a carpenter and plasterer who was at work that afternoon using borrowed tools.

The family lost everything in the firestorm and had no resources to replace tools, or much else.

“He doesn’t even have a dustpan, you know what I mean?” Lopez said.

She was grateful as she pushed a cart through the warehouse, surveying neat stacks of sledgehammers, pliers, measuring tapes, brooms, shovels, clamps, task lights, utility knives, ratchet sets, wrenches and even a small selection of power saws and toolboxes.

“I can’t believe how much there is,” she said. “I thank God.”

Silas Boden, a retired building contractor and Construction Hall of Fame member, said he was inspired by the generosity of donors and the appreciation of recipients. He volunteered at the program, where he heard countless stories of people escaping flames with just a moment’s notice.

Boden lives in Windsor, but has three siblings who lost their homes in Santa Rosa.

The tool replacement program was just the first step in assistance offered by the exchange. It now serves as a referral center for homeowners and businesses, and provides tips from building professionals for those planning to rebuild. Free, online webinars include protocol to verify contractor licensing and best practices to follow in the rebuilding effort.

“It makes me feel good to know we’re doing something to help other people,” Boden said.