Rebuilding in wildfire areas carries risk of repeat fires. How Santa Rosa is taking action

EIGHT YEARS AGO, Cross Creek Road, a winding street in Santa Rosa’s upscale Fountaingrove development, was flanked by oak woodlands and grassy meadows. Then the 2017 Tubbs Fire burned through the city. The blaze – one of the worst wildfires in California history – killed 22 people, destroyed 5,643 homes and other structures, and burned the vegetation down to mineral earth. On Cross Creek Road, the heat was so intense that metal streetlights half-melted, tilting at odd angles like Dr. Seuss illustrations. 

Fountaingrove was particularly hard hit, with entire neighborhoods reduced to smoking rubble. But today, Fountaingrove has recovered. New luxury homes rise magisterially where blackened foundations once stood. Almost 80% of the homes burned during the Tubbs Fire have been rebuilt. For many, that is indicative of the community’s indomitability, a sign that it is rising phoenix-like from the ashes.