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Sonoma County Residents Flee As Firefighting Resources Stretched Thin

SONOMA COUNTY (CBS13) — Thousands of homes burned to the ground, 11 people were killed, and thousands more were threatened by raging wildfires.

It’s a nightmare that won’t end.

“It just never stops, so it’s crazy,” said Harry Trembley near Sugar Loaf Road.

He helped his mother flee Sunday night, and once again they were forced to leave.

“We packed up twice now, and the foolish part is we actually had taken it out,” he said.

Others have already left and took only what they could.

“They said 'Go, go now.' We looked out the windows and Kenwood was ablaze, Glenn Ellen was ablaze. I did grab a picture of my mother,” said Jane Brier who had to also evacuate her home twice.

But some neighbors decided to stick it out and pray for the best.

“I’m just staying here to see what happens. I’m going to save my house if I can,” said Jess Bergeron.

The fire started to creep down the hill towards his home Tuesday afternoon. He said if it jumped the road he’d be gone.

“Resources are stretched. There’s no way around it, just the sheer size, number of fires we have, the amount of activity,” said Jonathan Cox with Cal Fire.

With hundreds of thousands of acres burning across Northern California, every resource possible is being used.

“We are just as torn up about this as anybody. It’s an emotional event for us as well. But we really have a mission to gain control of these fires,” he said.

As the community watches dozens of homes go up in flames and the number of lives lost grows, neighbors fear even more are on the horizon.

“It’s starting to really fire up, so it’s really rippin'. So now I’m going to wonder if it’s going to come this way,” said one man who was watching the fire in the distance.

Evacuation orders remain in place because of either the threat of fire or downed power lines as crews try to rebuild as much as they can.

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