Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Wednesday 18 OctOber 2017
‘Praying to have business’: Workers hit hard by wildfires

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and In conversation, people
OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ talk first of their flight from
Associated Press their homes but increasing-
SONOMA, Calif. (AP) — ly turn to nagging thoughts
Outside one of the first of unpaid bills.
shops to reopen for busi- Adam Plasse, 18, of Santa
ness on an empty central Rosa, took day after day
square in California wine off from the garage where
country, clerk Rhiannon he works as an auto me-
Lorenzini swept the side- chanic, forfeiting pay to try
walks as the sky cleared of to defend his century-old
ash more than a week after house from the flames.
the state’s deadliest group “I feel like I’m living in a
of wildfires ignited. matchbox, just waiting for it
In a wine region that nor- to ignite,” said Plasse, who
mally draws more annual gave up the fight Saturday
visitors than Disney World, and fled with his girlfriend to
Lorenzini waved to some a campsite on the coast.
of the few passers-by: fire- With money dwindling,
fighters in firetrucks rolling Plasse vowed to head
through Sonoma’s normal- back to work this week and
ly thronged 19th-century drum up customers for the
plaza. The blazes have left auto shop, even if his home
many business owners and In this Monday, Oct. 16, 2017 photo, workers begin repairs to a damaged irrigation pipe at the burned to the ground in the
employees without work or wildfire-damaged Signorello Estate winery in Napa, Calif. Residents in California wine country are meantime.
pay for nine days. increasingly worried about the ability to pay their bills as wildfires drag on. Associated Press “I’m worried,” Plasse said.
“I’m really grateful to be soon, despite that this is a of millions of visitors each Rosa whose clients includ- “I can’t miss too many pay-
back at work, safe. And magnificent time of year year and help support fast- ed a now-burned Hilton ho- checks.”
praying to have business to be here,” tour operator growing communities on tel, fled the fires last week. Outside Sonoma, vintner
here,” Lorenzini said, as au- Don Rickard said. the edge of the San Fran- In the following days, Ma- Steve Larson pleaded with
thorities began to lift evac- California produces 85 per- cisco Bay Area. cias and his wife made the officials Monday to open
uation orders this week and cent of the country’s wine, For many teachers, store hard decision not to pay one road so his workers
a utility restored power to and Sonoma and Napa clerks and vineyard work- their mortgage when it could harvest, even as he-
more of the area, where valleys make the highest- ers, however, costs are al- came due. licopters dropped water on
fires have killed at least value bottles, according ways high in the region with “We figured we better have the countryside nearby.
41 people and destroyed to the state’s Wine Institute some of the most expen- some money because we “I’ve got 100 tons of Caber-
thousands of homes and trade group. sive housing in the country. don’t know what’s going to net grapes” ready for pick-
businesses. The valleys, linked by ridges The research group Core- happen,” Macias said. “We ing, Larson said.
“I do have bills coming up now riddled with wildfires, Logic said median sale didn’t know how long it “That amounts to a lot of
that I have to pay,” said provide the bulk of the prices of a single-family would be before we could money for the company
Lorenzini, who works at a state’s 325,000 wine in- home were $562,000 in work.” and for the 115 workers we
home-goods store target- dustry jobs and $58 billion Napa County and $577,000 Unlike earthquakes that have.”
ing visitors flocking to the in business for California in Sonoma County in Au- unleash destruction in sec- The fires were going to pro-
more than 1,000 wineries in alone, the group said. gust. onds, the wildfires are drag- duce a painful “chain reac-
Sonoma and Napa coun- Normally, the vineyards Francisco Macias, a land- ging on, compounding tion” for people in the wine
ties. “You start to wonder and wineries draw tens scaper in the city of Santa worries for residents. region, Larson predicted.
how you’re going to take “We’ve been short housing
care of yourself.” as it is,” he said.
The fires up-ended business With thousands of homes
across wine country, forc- burned, “where are these
ing evacuations at some people going to stay, when
of the biggest employers, there is no place to stay?
ranging from a sprawl- “They have bills to pay,
ing state center for the they need gas for their
disabled to department cars, food on the table,”
stores, hotels and wineries, Larson said.
shops and factories. Busi- By the fires’ second week,
ness communities were just winds that were lighter
returning Tuesday to assess than feared and round-
the effect on revenue and the-clock efforts by thou-
jobs. sands of firefighters allowed
Wine tourism companies authorities to start lifting
said customers were can- closures that had kept
celing almost all sched- out 100,000 residents and
uled visits. Some businesses countless visitors.
launched fundraisers for Macias, the landscaper,
employees facing the pros- got the call he had been
pect of long-term unem- waiting for.
ployment, including those His bosses told him to show
who lost homes to the fires. up for work Tuesday.
“It is hard to imagine that In this Oct. 15, 2017 file photo, wildfire evacuee Francisco Macias, a landscape worker from “That is the best news,” he
Santa Rosa, Calif., collects donated blankets, baby diapers and food supplies for his family at the
any significant level of tour- Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds in Petaluma, Calif. said. “Because we need
ism will resume anytime Associated Press the money.”q