'Flames covered a football field-sized area in three seconds' - Richmond OES manager

   POINT RICHMOND - Richmond's manager of the Office of Emergency Services offered some hair-raising observations Thursday evening about the fires that devastated much of the City of Santa Rosa and the Sonoma and Napa Valleys last month.
     "One American Red Cross person said she saw that the flames covered a football-field-sized area in three seconds," Genevieve Pastor-Cohen told a meeting of the Point Richmond Neighborhood CERT at the Point Richmond Community Center.
     CERT stands for Community Emergency Response Team.

Genevieve Pastor-Cohen, Richmond OES manager

     Pastor-Cohen joined the Richmond City staff in April and is in the process of organizing emergency responses - including meeting with local CERT teams and coordinating efforts with emergency agencies such as those offered by Contra Costa County.
     (LINK: Richmond OES office)
    When she worked with the City of Oakland, Pastor-Cohen assisted with the emergency operations center set up to deal with the Ghost Ship fire.
     Much of her one-hour talk centered on the recent Northern California fires which, she said, "Will be the subject of discussions for many, many months among emergency services managers" across the state.
     CERT members also queried Pastor-Cohen about existing Richmond procedures for emergencies and what items should be kept in emergency "go bags" for residents.
     A "go bag" is a satchel kept handy in case a house needs to be evacuated quickly.
     In the Santa Rosa fires, some evacuees fled burning buildings without even time to put on shoes.
     Pastor-Cohen said a good friend of hers lost her home in the Santa Rosa blaze. The friend returned the street where she lived as soon as fire crews said it was safe.
     The house was gone, burned completely to the ground.
     The only thing still standing was her mailbox at the curb.
     When she opened the mailbox, it had one item inside - a bill from PG&E.

 Michael J. Fitzgerald