This archive report was first published on 24 August 2020.
As the River Fire raged south of Salinas, California, last week, Chelsea Sterrett and her husband, both high school teachers, were forced to evacuate their home with their three children and a dog. They sought refuge with family friends they hadn't seen in months due to the pandemic.
"The immediate crisis of the fire was bigger than our concerns about Covid," Ms. Sterrett wrote in a reflection on their experience.
For others, the pandemic has created new challenges in the face of natural disasters. Kevin Susco's daughter-in-law, who was under an evacuation warning in Boulder Creek, asked if she and her son could stay with him and his wife in Palo Alto. Their son, an Army Reservist currently in Kuwait, was welcomed to stay with them.
Deborah Meltzer, a 67-year-old live-in caregiver to her 100-year-old father, lives in Elk Grove where smoke has filled the air and the dangers of the fires and poor air quality are a constant concern. "Quite frankly, I am not sure what I would do or where I would take my dad in the event of an evacuation," she said.
