The Glass Fire has destroyed at least 80 homes in Napa and Sonoma counties and though some evacuees got lucky, others are now homeless.
LuAnne Daly of Santa Rosa is used to hosting people at her home in an unincorporated part of northeastern Santa Rosa.
“You’re looking at our cute granny cottage that was a rental,” said Daly. “I see memories, I see a lot of work, I see land cleared the way I wish I had cleared it.”
Daly moved from San Francisco to Santa Rosa 20 years ago and hasn’t left since. The house where she raised her daughter and the garden that they tended to are now reduced to ash and rubble.
During the 2017 Tubbs Fire, Daly and her family were prepared and evacuated quickly.
“We were lucky it just missed us,” Daly said.
This time, due to a spinal injury, Daly wasn’t able to lift a heavy load and pack her car with all the essentials.
Local
“People tell you, ‘oh it's only stuff,’ but it’s stuff that you’ve put together for a plan,” she said.
Cal Fire says the Glass Fire has destroyed at least 52 homes in Napa County and 28 more in Sonoma County.
Daly can’t say for certain if she will be able to rebuild but this she feels strongly about, “You could still live here – but I really think we need to manage our forests.”
Those who are thinking about rebuilding are wondering – will companies still provide insurance for homes that are rebuilt after the Glass Fire?
Last week, Senator Dianne Feinstein sent a letter to the federal insurance officer director requesting a report on the effects of increased wildfire risk on private insurance markets. In her letter, the senator writes the risk of wildfires is making insurance unavailable or unaffordable to a growing group of Americans.
