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When sheriff’s deputies came knocking on doors and shouting over loudspeakers for residents to evacuate Wine Country over the weekend, Gregorio Alvarez followed the instructions.
An immigrant worker at a vineyard north of Cloverdale, Alvarez understood that he and his family needed to leave, but because his English was limited, he did not understand what exactly was happening, how long they would be gone, or where they would go.
Alvarez quickly grabbed his wife and children, packed up some clothing, jumped in the family’s Honda Odyssey, and raced down the hills in search of a safe spot, away from the growing flames of the Kincade Fire. He didn’t, however, grab the insulin he and his wife needed for their diabetes or any extra cash.
“We were scared and afraid,” Alvarez said through a translator. “I didn’t know what was going to happen.”
When Alvarez and his family reached town, Alvarez thought they might find refuge at the Cloverdale Citrus Fairgrounds, a major gathering site.
Like other farmworkers who had hastily packed up and come to the fairgrounds, he wanted to remain close to the wine country so that he could return to work at the vineyard if the evacuation order was lifted. And with the gas stations closed, he did not have the option taking the family to an evacuation center further south.
On Saturday night, the couple, their kids and a few dozen other farmworkers and residents from nearby towns slept in their cars in the parking lot. But with the evacuation of increasing numbers of people and the PG&E shutdown issued the following day, the need for services and other resources for the fairground fire refugees became more apparent.
In Cloverdale and the surrounding area nearly all the stores were closed, and the family was unable to find food, water, medicine and other essentials. Alvarez and his wife were rationing their insulin to make it last until they could finally return home.
The fairgrounds were never designated as an official evacuation site, which would have meant it would offer things like portable toilets, face masks, access to medication and other resources. Brian Ferguson, a spokesman for California Office of Emergency Services, said that was due to the fairgrounds’ proximity to the fire and its lack of power.
“You never want to be in a situation where you have to evacuate folks twice,” Ferguson said.
Nevertheless, Fairgrounds CEO Kate Young was unable to ignore the growing need. She had gotten a call from someone she knew asking if they could park their RV in the parking lot during the evacuation, and when other people started driving in, she didn’t have the heart to tell them they couldn’t come in.
“Unfortunately, without gas and money, many of them were stuck here,” Young said. “And personally, I couldn’t just close the gates.”
She added, “The community needed this.”
With the help of more than a half dozen local organizations, Young started trying to turn the fairgrounds into a makeshift shelter. First the Lion’s Club brought in breakfast, then other organizations began helping out, providing the farmworkers and residents with blankets and sleeping bags to stay warm, pumpkins for kids to decorate, catered Mexican meals and boxes of food from the food pantry.
But it wasn’t until Wednesday — just hours before evacuation orders were lifted and power was restored — that the American Red Cross and the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services got involved and started considering the need for resources like portable bathrooms and face masks.
“Even though these guys are out there picking our grapes and making this area what it is, it’s almost like they’ve been ignored,” Zeke Guzman, President of the local chapter of Latinos Unidos, said about the immigrant farmworker population. “We’ve got to do better and make sure they’re better prepared.”
