Green Valley Residents Return Home After Fire Evacuations
GREEN VALLEY (CBS13) - Nearly a week after the Atlas fire roared to within a mile of their homes, residents of one Solano County neighborhood are counting their blessings and thanking first responders.Relief and exhilaration mixed with empathy for those who have lost so much.
As flames encroached to within a few thousand feet of their homes last week, they kept a nervous vigil. Kami Linan described the ordeal as "very nerve-wracking. it was an emotional roller coaster. every day. every hour as a different experience."
Sunday after learning their homes were safe, they exchanged hugs and stories, shared a few drinks, and thanked the men and women who worked for days to ensure they had something to return to.
Joined by her neighbors, Linan told a group of National Guard troops, CHP officers and Sheriff's deputies, "I am just so grateful and thankful for all of you so thank you," and her neighbors erupted in an applause of thanks.
They told of first responders who rescued their pets, and of the neighbor who stayed put, only to open her home to the cops and national guard troops, in need of a restroom or a quick snack, how 16-year-old Sam Tuite held her family together.
"I read the insurance policy," she giggled. "So I took pictures and videos of the house, I helped pack up and tried to keep things a little calmer."
They admitted while exiled to a bit of self-pity, and of feeling guilty for it.
"You start feeling sorry for your self," Kami Linan related. "And then you realize their homes were burned down, my heart goes out to them, those folks that didn't even have time to evacuate."
Asked if they had second thoughts about living there, Wendy Tuite hesitated for a moment.
"Yes and no.But this is an absolute paradise in Salano county that we wouldn't trade for anything."
They all know how close they came to losing it all and know that just miles behind them, so many others did -- and they see one big positive, out of such a terrible week.
"I think people are going to hug each other more, said Jaime Hinojosa, and it's almost a feeling like this is my neighbor! I didn't know this was my neighbor? That's the sense I get."
A financial planner, Hinojosa's other take away is how important it is to catalog, photograph and if possible videotape your possessions, insurance policies and important papers in case they are lost in a fire, flood or other disaster.
