Liberty students from California reflect on wildfires affecting their state

• Northern California sees the most destructive in the state’s history, killing at least 42 and causing nearly 100,000 to evacuate.
• Liberty students from California hope that revival comes to Sonoma County as people in the unreached area receive aid from churches.

With at least 42 people dead and 6,000 homes destroyed, the wine country fires devastated more than 250,000 acres of Northern California.

AP reported that nearly 100,000 residents were evacuated from the area, and about 22,000 have yet to return home. Though some of the evacuees relocated to one of 43 shelters, many do not have a home to return to and do not know where to go, ABC News said.

“(California) doesn’t have the Southern hospitality that we do (in Virginia), but some people will put out on a social media site and say, ‘Hey, I have an extra room in my house if you need to stay with me,'” Sarah Orr, a Liberty University student from Norwalk, California, said. “A lot of motels … might have discounted rates for people who are affected by the fires.”

Orr shared that her cousins evacuated their home in Santa Rosa and traveled a few hours away to stay with family— an option many evacuees did not have. SFGATE estimated shelters only held a mere 3,900 evacuees, leaving roughly 95,000 to fend for themselves.

“Sometimes people will say, ‘Why do you live in a place that’s so flammable?'” Orr said. “We live where we can. We live where our jobs are, where our things are. Why do people live in tornado alley? Why do people live … where there’s hurricanes? It’s not the people’s fault who live there.”

According to the New York Times, the fire that began Oct. 8 in Santa Rosa, California is the most destructive wildfire in the state’s history. The fires, strengthened by high winds, began around 9:20 p.m. on Sunday and spread rapidly across Sonoma County. Less than two hours after dispatchers were notified of a vegetation fire, the Sonoma County Sherriff’s Office sent out mandatory evacuation orders, as reported by NBC Bay Area.

“I had gotten a Snapchat earlier that morning from a coworker of fire on the mountain,” Caitlyn McCready, a Liberty graduate student and native of Sonoma County, said. “It’s fire season … there’s always a little brush fire on the mountain. I was like, ‘Oh, crazy,’ not realizing it was this huge ordeal.”

As of Oct. 14, it is estimated that Santa Rosa lost about 2,800 buildings, with 1,300 of them being homes in the Coffey Park neighborhood. In addition to homes being razed, the Mercury News explained that 23 wineries in Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino Counties were severely damaged by the fires — a major blow to the wine country.

“(Santa Rosa) takes self-pride in (its wineries), and with these fires, (the vineyards) are all gone,” McCready said. “The church has been amazing (by) opening its doors and just loving on people.”

McCready recalled receiving a phone call from a friend warning her of the fires Monday morning Oct. 9 during her 8:15 class. Immediately after class, McCready tried calling her family and checking social media for updates on the safety of friends and family.

“Social media is actually really great when it comes to things like this because you can figure out who’s okay and who’s not,” McCready said.

With Facebook’s Safety Check, McCready could see which of her friends had checked in as “safe” from the fires. Many of McCready’s friends were also posting pictures and videos to social media as well as information about volunteer opportunities and relief efforts. Because of the synthesized information, McCready could connect people to volunteer opportunities and churches offering refuge for evacuees.

“It’s definitely a hard feeling … not being able to be there,” McCready said. “My role was trying to help people get connected and make sure everybody I knew was at least safe or relatively safe.”

Aside from connecting and serving victims through social media, McCready said that she is also planning to fly out to California for Christmas break. By then, McCready hopes there will be more direction on what needs to be done, as it will be two months after the fact. In the meantime, McCready and Orr said they will be praying for the victims of the fires, firefighters and first responders.

“I pray for safety … for all the people trying to get out, because sometimes they don’t get those warnings, or they wait a little longer,” Orr said. “Even when we can’t see the reason (for tragedy) … there is something … good that can come of it.”

McCready also explained that Sonoma County is considered unreached, and said she and a friend had been praying for revival in the area for some time. With churches opening their doors and collecting donations for fire refugees, McCready believes the wildfires could be a spark to ignite revival in wine country.

“So many people went to bed thinking that everything was okay and everything was fine and woke up to their lives completely altered,” McCready said. “People lost loved ones. People lost their homes … We’re praying that, out of this, people will come to know God and not blame him for this, but see it as life so momentary compared to eternity.”