Skip to content
CapRadio

CapRadio

listen live donate
listen live donate
listen live
donate
  • News
    • News

    • State Government
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • Race and Equity
    • Business
    • Arts and Lifestyle
    • Food and Sustainability
    • PolitiFact California
    News
    • News

    • State Government
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • Race and Equity
    • Business
    • Arts and Lifestyle
    • Food and Sustainability
    • PolitiFact California
  • Music
    • Music

    • Classical
    • Jazz
    • Eclectic

    • Daily Playlist
    Music
    • Music

    • Classical
    • Jazz
    • Eclectic

    • Daily Playlist
  • Podcasts & Shows
  • Schedules
  • Events
  • Support
    • Support
    • Ways to support
    • Evergreen Donation
    • One-Time Donation
    • Corporate Sponsorship
    • Vehicle Donation
    • Stock Giving
    • Legacy Giving
    • Endowment Support
    • Members
    • Member Benefits
    • Member FAQ
    • Member Newsletter

    • Fund drives
    • Drawing Winners
    • Thank You Gifts
    Support
    • Support
    • Ways to support
    • Evergreen Donation
    • One-Time Donation
    • Corporate Sponsorship
    • Vehicle Donation
    • Stock Giving
    • Legacy Giving
    • Endowment Support
    • Members
    • Member Benefits
    • Member FAQ
    • Member Newsletter

    • Fund drives
    • Drawing Winners
    • Thank You Gifts
  • About
  • Close Menu
 We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter 
 We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter 
  • Environment
  •  

"It Was Just Like An Apocalypse": Stories From The Wildfires

  •  Sally Schilling 
Tuesday, October 10, 2017 | Sacramento, CA
Listen
/
Update RequiredTo play audio, update browser or Flash plugin.

A photo from a GoFundMe page for Bobby Jo Valentine and John Fornachon, who returned from a trip to find their Napa home had been destroyed.

 

Many Northern Californians are experiencing loss, uncertainty and unity as they face raging wildfires.

Heidi Moss Erickson lives in Green Valley near Fairfield, and said she and her family have been watching the Atlas Fire evacuation line creep closer and closer to them.

“In a way, we’re waiting to get a clearer picture of how close the fire is," Moss Erickson said. "And if we leave, do you take your life’s possessions or do you just go with sort of a temporary departure?”

Christine McNeely lives northeast of Yuba City in Browns Valley. The area was under evacuation due to the Cascade Fire, but seeing the heavy traffic on her exit route, she decided to stay put, along with a group of her neighbors who she banded together with.

“We put everyone into one property and then from the highest lookout point, we just took shifts up there throughout the night, we did about four hour shifts while the other families were able to get some rest,” McNeely said, adding that many of them had not slept in 26 hours.

The fire passed just north of them and destroyed many homes in Loma Rica. McNeely said her boyfriend took a video driving on Marysville Road toward Loma Rica shortly afterward. "It's really eerie," she said. 

She says they were lucky the fire passed them, but they’re still concerned about changing winds in the upcoming days.

Bobby Jo Valentine and John Fornachon were out of town in Kansas City when they heard a fire was threatening their home in Napa. They flew back and when they landed at the Oakland Airport, Valentine said they got off the plane to find they had been sent pictures of their home.

“It was just like an apocalypse," Valentine said. "It was otherworldly, like a bomb had gone off. I mean just absolutely nothing where it used to be.”

"It's just an overwhelming heaviness," Fornachon said of the home that had been in his family for 115 years. "I don't know if I'll ever get over it."

Fornachon's son had tried to evacuate, but he only had half an hour before firefighters told him he needed to leave. That meant all of the family pictures and Valentine’s instruments were destroyed.

“I’m an independent musician and everything that I have used: CD’s, keyboards, including a $15,000 van that we used for tours and stuff," Valentine said. "That all burned.”

Valentine, a folk musician, said he’s still planning to perform a show Sunday afternoon in Sacramento at the Pioneer Congregational United Church of Christ.

“We’re all gonna get together and we’re gonna sing songs about recovery and it’s gonna be very hard," Valentine says. "But you’ve gotta keep going. Absolutely, you’ve gotta keep going.”

A fan and friend set up a GoFundMe page for them, that has already received more than ten thousand dollars in donations.

“That’s been the one wonderful positive thing that we’re experiencing now is people’s capacity to show up for their neighbors and friends and be there for them,” he says.

Find evacuation information here.


Follow us for more stories like this

CapRadio provides a trusted source of news because of you.  As a nonprofit organization, donations from people like you sustain the journalism that allows us to discover stories that are important to our audience. If you believe in what we do and support our mission, please donate today.

Donate Today  
Was this story useful?
yes
no

Will you help us improve our fires coverage? Head to our wildfire survey page to tell us what you think.

    More about wildfire

  • Andrew Nixon / CapRadio

    California Wildfires: Latest Updates

    CapRadio provides the latest information and updates on wildfires hitting the state, and resources for listeners to help prepare, follow and respond to fire.

    Related Stories

  • Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP

    California Plans To Spend $2 Billion To Fight Fires This Year

    Wednesday, June 20, 2018
    With temperatures forecast in the triple-digits this weekend, state agencies are preparing for fire season. Cal Fire officials say the group is already operating at peak levels weeks earlier than last year.
  • AP Photo / Jeff Chiu

    Report: Downed Power Lines Sparked Deadly California Fires

    Friday, June 8, 2018
    California's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Friday that downed power lines were the cause of a dozen deadly wildfires in Northern California last fall.

 wildfireswildfire

Sally Schilling

Director of On-Demand

Sally Schilling is a Davis native and a graduate of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She has reported on redwood poachers robbing national forests in Humboldt County and the dangers of melting tropical glaciers in the Peruvian Andes.  Read Full Bio 

More Environment Stories

AP Photo/Terry Chea

Almond hulls in your coffee? Some growers look to upcycle almond byproducts into food

May 25, 2023

AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File

Colorado River deal: What does it mean for California?

May 23, 2023

Andrew Nixon / CapRadio

Officials warn residents to stay out of California’s faster, colder river waters

May 24, 2023

We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter

Back to Top

  • CapRadio

    7055 Folsom Boulevard
    Sacramento, CA 95826-2625

    •  
      (916) 278-8900
    •  
      (877) 480-5900
    •  Contact / Feedback
    •  Submit a Tip / Story Idea
  • About

    • Mission / Vision / Core Values
    • Stations & Coverage Map
    • Careers & Internships
    • Staff Directory
    • Board of Directors
    • Press
  • Listening Options

    • Mobile Apps
    • Smart Speakers
    • Podcasts & Shows
    • On-Air Schedules
    • Daily Playlist
    • Signal Status
  • Connect

    •  Facebook
    •  Twitter
    •  Instagram
    •  YouTube
  • Donate

  • Listen Live

  • Newsletters

CapRadio stations are licensed to California State University, Sacramento. © 2023, Capital Public Radio. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Website Feedback FCC Public Files: KXJZ KKTO KUOP KQNC KXPR KXSR KXJS. For assistance accessing our public files, please call 916-278-8900 or email us.