Fleeing a wildfire is daunting enough. But finding a safe place to evacuate amid an ongoing coronavirus pandemic is adding another layer of stress.
Dozens of out-of-control blazes have consumed houses and forced residents across the Bay Area, from Santa Cruz to Vacaville and beyond, to leave the safe confines of their homes where they’ve been hunkered down for months.
Typically, cities, counties or partners like the Red Cross will set up evacuation centers at school gymnasiums or recreation centers and provide tables and chairs, food and other necessities for people who need a safe place to ride out a wildfire. Now, those organizers are scrambling to enforce social distancing, requiring masks and even setting up individual tents where families can isolate from others.
“It really creates a whole new level of complication,” said Mary Prunicki, director of Air Pollution and Health Research at the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at Stanford University.
Wildfires can make people more susceptible to the virus, Prunicki said, and for people who are ill, cause more severe symptoms.
Susan and Donald Powell of Boulder Creek arrived at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds evacuation center in Watsonville early Tuesday morning after being ordered to evacuate. They were able to secure one of about a dozen large tents set up inside a large warehouse-like building for families fleeing the wildfire.
The couple, both around the age of 60, have been self isolating for the past few months due to the pandemic but knew they needed to leave their home when they woke up in the middle of the night to an evacuation order and foothills glowing from flames.
“It’s no problem. We know what we’re doing,” Susan Powell, who has COPD, a condition that can make it difficult to breathe, said Wednesday. “They’ve been wonderful. Friendly people too.”
The tents, each spread out by at least six feet, were set up with cots and sleeping bags for evacuees. Site organizers, swathed in protective masks, goggles, face shields and gloves, took temperatures before evacuees were allowed into the building and once inside, masks and social distancing were required. An announcement Wednesday that lunch was ready came with a reminder to stay at least six feet from others.
Before securing a small cabin in Boulder Creek in February, the Powells spent nearly 15 years homeless and living in tents. This one was far nicer than what they were used too, they said.
“These are big. We’ve lived in a lot of tents… all much smaller,” she said.
Outside, Russ Mackey, 72, sat in his truck with the air conditioning on and the 23 chickens, turkeys and ducks he and his wife, Dawn, evacuated with early Monday morning.This is the third time in the past 12 years that the Mackeys have been ordered to evacuate due to raging wildfires near their Bonny Doon home.
“I’m not sure that makes any difference at all in what we do for an evacuation,” Russ said of the pandemic. “It just comes with a whole different way of being careful.”
The couple are staying in a trailer in the parking lot rather than in the evacuation center. When he sees a neighbor or friend, he keeps his mask on and asks them to talk to him on the other side of his truck bed.
At Pescadero High School, an evacuation site in southern San Mateo County west of the fires that have ripped through the Santa Cruz Mountains, two couples were waiting in an outdoor breezeway for hotel vouchers — only entering the building to use the restroom after having their temperature taken.
Video: Vacaville evacuee describes arrival at Ulatis Community Center. CLICK HERE if you’re having trouble viewing the video.
At the Ulatis Community Center in Vacaville, where a fast-moving fire forced hundreds of people to flee their homes, evacuees sat at tables and chairs spaced apart, watching Gov. Gavin Newsom speak at a press conference projected onto the wall.
“Stuff has changed in a lot of different ways,” said Larry Whitney of the Red Cross. “All geared toward their safety and our safety.”
Evacuees, Whitney said, were required to wear masks at the center, and volunteers were wearing gloves and using plenty of hand sanitizer. Instead of serving lunch Wednesday, volunteers asked which kind of personal pizza each person wanted, set it on the edge of a table, stepped back and then invited people to step forward from a blue line taped on the floor to collect their meal.
In previous years, overnight emergency shelters have held dozens of cots lined up just a couple feet apart.
“You can’t do that in COVID and expect a pure result,” Whitney said.
In Sonoma County, officials scrambled to set up an alternate evacuation center for anyone with symptoms of the virus to avoid spreading the disease. And a number of evacuation centers across the Bay Area were scrambling to provide hotel rooms to people without a safe place to shelter. Some counties are encouraging people to stay with friends, even after months of urging residents to avoid prolonged contact with those outside their household.
In Vacaville, many residents appeared to be opting for personal RVs and trailers. Several evacuees ended up in the Walmart parking lot, where employees handed out water, snacks and masks.
“Go where you can congregate with the smallest amount of people you can — that would be preferable,” Prunicki, the Stanford doctor, said. “It’s not going to be ideal no what matter what we do.”
Staff writers David DeBolt and Evan Webeck contributed reporting.
