Wine Country in Recovery: When You Can Beat 'Em, Cooperate 'Em to Death (Pt. 1)

Woodstock, along with numerous Peanuts-themed statues, watches over
the city of Santa Rosa, longtime home of famed cartoonist
Charles M. Schulz (who was the inspiration for the subject line quote)

Perhaps the most indelible images to those like me who intently watched the progress of the California wildfires in October came from the city of Santa Rosa.  Early on, the Tubbs Fire, which started 12 miles as the crow flies in the Napa Valley near Calistoga, rampaged southwestward over the coastal hills powered by powerful offshore winds, and in less than two days had reached and inundated both sides of the concrete barrier/transportation artery that is Highway 101 in northern Santa Rosa.

In many ways, the footage reminded me of what happened just over 25 years prior, when a small grass fire not properly extinguished was reignited by the Diablo Winds and blew up overnight, ravaging the hillside homes just above Oakland, California for two straight days. Watching scenes of ash fluttering down on Candlestick Park during a 49ers-Lions broadcast proved to be the final confirmation of how serious the situation had become.