Santa Rosa residents search for memories in rubble of North Bay fires

Wayne Freedman Image
ByWayne Freedman KGO logo
Friday, October 20, 2017
WATCH: SANTA ROSA RESIDENTS RETURN TO RUBBLE AFTER NORTH BAY FIRES
WATCH: SANTA ROSA RESIDENTS RETURN TO RUBBLE AFTER NORTH BAY FIRES

SONOMA COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- "Lift me up."

RELATED: Roads remain closed as Santa Rosa residents air grievances about fire recovery

We've spent all of today in Coffey Park in Santa Rosa. As residents finally returned to their homes (on Day 12), it's fire-stirred rubble into chaos.

Some people here wanted to be left alone. Others wanted to talk.

Among them, Donna and John Pittman. That's John giving her a helping hand out of what had been home since 1994.

VIDEO: See the ruins of Coffey Park in Santa Rosa

As Santa Rosa residents finally returned to their homes after the devastating North Bay Fires -- they searched the ruins where their homes once stood for memories.

He's a Vietnam veteran who though he had seen and lived through bad enough, until this. A guy who thought he can fix anything. His tools survived -- sort of.

Donna is a teacher.

Together, they welcomed us into the remains of their home, just one one of many in this neighborhood filled with so much loss.

In the rubble, John found a watch and his wedding ring. He put the ring on immediately.

PHOTOS: Coffey Park residents return after devastating fire

Following the devastating North Bay fires, Santa Rosa residents returned to search the ruins where their homes once stood for memories.

Donna found a ceramic from her grandmother, Alma.

They rejoiced.

Not far away, on the other side of what used to be a fence, Barbara Nichols did much the same, still talking about what used to be a beautiful garden filled with crafted plants.

She, too, looked for anything significant. "A mattress, you recognize, but insurance will replace that." She grieved family pictures, gifts, mementoes, and talked about watching disaster after disaster strike the nation, this summer. "Then I wake up, and it happens to us."

No one can appreciate what these residents are going through unless they have done so, themselves.'

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