The Tubbs Wildfire firestorm hit Santa Rosa, California in the early morning of October 9, 2017. Eventually 5,700 structures were destroyed with 42 people dead and not all accounted for. This was the most destructive wildfire in modern California history.
The fire was moved by 60 mph gusts of warm wind, causing the flames to sheet across the ground and fueled by dry dense grasses. The fire traveled one football field in length every three seconds. First responders, overwhelmed by the speed of the fire, turned their mission into saving lives, eventually evacuating over 50,000 residents from their homes. Most people had 5 minutes to gather their belongings and flee to safety.
Coffey Park, one square mile of middle class homes was in the path of the fire. It was a clean, multi-ethnic neighborhood where people walked and knew their neighbors. Within hours, most of the several hundred homes were reduced to grey ash, twisted metals and melted memories.
A pop up exhibition of these photographs will be shown at the Calabi Gallery in Santa Rosa, California with an opening reception on November 4, 2017.
As the fire jumped to the West over Highway 101, one building in its path was a McDonald’s restaurant.
The fire was moved by 60 mph gusts of warm wind, causing the flames to sheet across the ground and fueled by dry dense grasses. The fire traveled one football field in length every three seconds. First responders, overwhelmed by the speed of the fire, turned their mission into saving lives, eventually evacuating over 50,000 residents from their homes. Most people had 5 minutes to gather their belongings and flee to safety.
Cars, the American dream; our driving toys, alter egos and moveable livelihoods; cars played hard with the fires and lost. The vortex created by the heat and oxygen spun our sweet joy rides around and around and flipped them upside down. The fierce flames opened hoods, melted interiors, defaced the powerful faces and made fancy wheels run like a big soldering iron to solder. Rubber? What rubber? There was none left, preferring to melt away into the toxic sky.
A pop up exhibition of these photographs will be shown at the Calabi Gallery in Santa Rosa, California with an opening reception on November 4, 2017.
