On the evening of October 8, 2017 our lives and landscape in the North Bay forever changed when a series of wildfires erupted and then raced across the region, causing the most destructive fire is California’s history. Within the first 12 hours, thousands of homes had been consumed, leaving many to run for their lives. By the end of the week, 44 people had lost their lives and over 90,000 were evacuated from their homes in five counties: Sonoma, Napa, Lake, Mendocino, and Solano. The fires would burn for 23 days and destroy 8,900 structures, costing an estimated $14.5 billion dollars, becoming the most expensive and destructive natural disaster in California’s history.
The decision was made early on for Rebuild to focus our efforts on the long term recovery and rebuild, most active in Year 2 to Year 5 and beyond. The board did not want to compete with emergency funding relief and realized there was a need for an organization to immerse itself in the challenging time post-disaster: when the cameras and news crews and have departed and donations slow just as needs increase.
Rebuild NorthBay is dedicated to the long term assistance to our public, private, and nonprofit communities. We build partnerships to fill funding gaps for rebuilders, provide information and data, and advocate for the maximum amount of state and federal dollars to ensure our region not only recovers, but leaps ahead regionally. We are determined to be a model and pay our lessons forward to other disaster affected areas throughout the nation.
At Rebuild, we do not set the agenda. Instead we always begin with the query, “What do you need and how can we help?” We expect these answers to change as the years progress, but our approach will remain constant. Our people and this place are worth it. Together, we will rise.