 Good morning everybody, I'm Lon Peterson with the City of Santa Rosa. The City of Santa Rosa and the Sonoma County are excited that you're joining our event this morning, in person and online. We are live streaming this event through the county's Facebook page, as well as the City of Santa Rosa's YouTube channel. Before we begin, I wanted to make sure that everybody knows that the county has headsets for Spanish translation right over there at that booth. And also we'll be doing Mayor Cruz will just get this set up right over here. So one second. Buenos dias soy Silvia Lemos, Portavoz, the County of Sonoma, La Ciudad de Santa Rosa y el Condado de Sonoma están emocionados de que se hayan unido y uno de nosotros le ayudaremos. Muchas gracias. El alcalde de la Ciudad de Santa Rosa, Chris Rogers, es nuestro maestro de ceremonias hoy y dará el comienzo al evento en unos minutos. Gracias. So we're just going to wait about a minute or so to make sure everybody gets set up over here and then we'll kick this off. Thank you. Good morning everybody. Good. Five years ago, a fire started to our east and driven by hurricane hurricane force winds by morning had forced tens of thousands to flee, 5000 structures in Sonoma County destroyed and 44 lives were lost. We wanted to start this morning with a moment of silence to remember those who we lost in the 2017. The tubs fire took so much from our community in 2017 and it'll forever be a moment that is punctuated in the lives of those an entire generation here in Sonoma County. And yet over the last five years, 30 have found solace in one another as a cliche to say but Sonoma County is more resilient. Community members have helped community members to rebuild bit by bit. We've been able to take our open wound, sew it shut and start to see it scar over here in Santa Rosa of the 3043 homes that were lost. More than 90% have been rebuilt are in construction or have been approved to break ground. We have been able to cut the ribbon on this beautiful park, a symbol of our endurance and of community and of the spirit of folks who wanted to get their hands dirty and get back to what we had. We see the old journey's end site rising from the ground like a phoenix from the ashes and slowly but surely we're starting to see our community return to what it once was and we're starting to slowly see those wounds recover. I'm proud to stand up here today on the fire anniversary with fire survivors and with community members who have been with us every single step of the way. I am honored to be here not just to remember what we lost and to celebrate what we have how far we have come but to also express our gratitude as a community to the world who stepped in to help Sonoma County. We will never forget the bravery of our firefighters and our police officers of our city staff and our community members will forever be grateful to the thousands who flocked to Sonoma County, first responders, donors, well-wishers, folks from as far away as Australia coming to take care of us as a community and we will never stop working hard until the physical and the psychological scars in our community have healed and that every single fire survivor who wants to find their way home back here in Sonoma County. Thank you for being here with us today. I'm very proud to introduce many of the folks who have stood with us over the last five years who have worked really hard to rebuild this community and I want to start with one of our community, our good friend, and a big round of applause. I'm sorry to be underdressed here but I wanted to come to this occasion in the same clothes that I wore when I left my home. This is exactly what I wore. Aside from the shirt on my back, the most important thing that I took with me that day was my wife, my piss, and our pets, thinking that we were going to come back and we all know that that wasn't the case. So I am here today, I was asked to say a few words about my personal experience but I think the words that I'll share hopefully resonate. I'd like to start with a brief quote from a renowned Chinese philosopher named Laozhu and he said, new beginnings are often disguised as painful endings. Anyone who lived here in Coffee Park five years ago, anywhere the tubs fire, the nuns fire, the pocket fire, the viscerated communities in a matter of hours, knows the painful endings that we lived. Those of us who lost the home, we know that we lost more than a physical structure. Most importantly in that home, we lost family treasures, family photos, heirlooms passed down in our families from generations. We lost our kids for everything. Baseball clubs, school projects, sports trophies, report cards, and those beautiful pieces of artwork that we used to hang in the fridge and hope to one day give them back to them as a memory. Those are all gone. All those treasures that we hope to give them later in life evaporated in a matter of hours. We lost neighbors to the fire and some of them just never returned. For all of us, those are painful endings. But then the rebuild process began. Whether we were ready for it or not, it had to begin. The wood resiliency popped up in our daily lexicon and for it, and we moved by its directive. We plugged away when we tried to persevere. Most of us in one way or another have done so, but most also recognize that it was a constant struggle. One which drained us daily. We must also recognize that many of our neighbors still have not made it back. And others left. For those of us who stayed, we had to deal with insurance companies, securing building permits, dealing with architects, contractors, subcontractors, utility shortages, supply shortages, extended timeframes for building. The process was never easy. I know we're all here to commemorate all that happened during those horrendous fires. But we're also here to recognize the resiliency of our community of Coffee Park. And those neighbors that also went through this in Mark West, Fountain Grove, Kenwood, Glen Allen, and Sonoma Valley. We have all our way back, but again, it wasn't an easy road. Residency for me now comes to me something different than it did five years ago. For me, it not means that there was tons of tears that were shed, sweat equity that had to be endlessly poured, unwanted feelings of pain, anger, sadness, emptiness, frustration. All had to be dealt with, but there's also a recognition that we have to be better stewards of our environment. And I'll leave you with a final quote, which I hope provides some level of inspiration as we stand all here together. Starting over is an acceptance of a past we cannot change. An unrelenting conviction that the future can be different. And the wisdom to not use that past to make a better future. Now, folks would indulge me. I'd like to welcome in our honor guard who will be overseeing the ceremony they with us. Thank you. Now I'd like to invite the chairman of the board of supervisors, James Gore, represented for district four. Good morning, everybody. I drove over here this morning as hit by a turn of everything. Not melancholy, no, not only resistance, but it's, it's a lot. Lesson today is voices to come survive at one point. Victims to survivors, to thrivers. We're still a process, aren't we? I look forward to coming to your new home. You're almost moved back in very soon, five years later. I called my cousin Steve in resiliency and rebuild did not start until tomorrow. Because it was, as you all know, whether you were in Mark West Estates, whether you're in Markfield Estates, whether you were up on the hills, whether you down here, it was chaos. And there's a reason that PTSD and trauma are real and are honored here in this space and in this community. The best thing I can say is that there was a lot of things that didn't go right. Five years ago, there's a lot of things that we as government and we as individuals had to take account for. There was a lot of readiness that wasn't where it needed to be. There were systems that weren't tried and tested. And we as public officials as servants have to tell you once again, I'm sorry, I have to honor that. I'm sorry we weren't where we need to be. Many of you have looked back at me and said, yeah, but we weren't ready either. And that's why we've created cult groups and cert teams and we've learned our evacuation zones and we've gone and sat and advocated and told you what we need you to do more of and how you represent us better. But after it all, the one thing I can say is that in those days, is that we did have a common refrain, which was never again. That didn't mean no more fires. We know that. But it meant never again we get caught on our heels the way that we were that night. In between 2017 and 2019, we knew that things had changed. The concave fire came with very similar, strikingly similar ferocity as a Tubbs fire. We evacuated 40% of our community. That's hard. First responders were able to do what they were trained to do, what they knew how to do. Not to respond in always a crisis, but to get there, get us out of the way, protect us and defend our flanks. We call that a tale of two fires. It's we didn't have any loss of life. On the night of October 8th, we lost hundreds of homes, not thousands. I'll never forget sitting with a group of block captains that next morning over at our local assistance center. And I, I'm a sheriff to you. It was the first time in quite a few years that I had sobbed deeply cried. And it was, it was because I looked at the block captains who had worked with me on recovery and resiliency over the following two years meeting every morning. Or excuse me, every Wednesday for, you know, days on end through holidays to traffic laws. We needed to get rebuilt with things we needed to do how we needed to hold every agency accountable bring in the post office. So they give your mailbox back everything. And I got there and I really felt like a failure because I even though we had changed so many systems and we'd come so far and I believe we are there as a community. So I look back on people who I'd come to know and in love and respected serving and I look back at them and I just said, you know, we, we did it, but I still feel like we failed you. Right. I still feel like we failed you. And the hard reality is one of them Barry look back and he said, you know, I'd never asked for that night again, but these people in this room are my friends and you're my friend. And we're on this wild, crazy, messy journey together. One thing I've learned from all of you, a couple things. One is that the only progress in this world is imperfect, relentless progress. A little bit every day. The other thing I've learned is that whether you were somebody who fought from day one to build your house as fast as possible or you look back at me and said, I don't feel resilient right now and I need to take some space to take care of myself. Is that the only path is forward. So coming full circle. The other thing that my cousin told me this morning, he said, what's crazy is is that it's we talk about recovery, but recovery is a process. And he says, we're still in recovery. It almost sounds like, like he said, like I almost felt like I'm saying, I'm Steve and I'm a fire survivor. But then he did the math and he said, I guess I'm 1825 days into recovery. And it made me really inspired to be alongside each and every one of you and work still to this day towards recovery. Richard. Shoot, every day still work. We're working on making sure that we don't get with the congressman and others get PGN settlements taxed. And I want to thank them for, you know, there's so much more to do. I'm done. I love you. I hope to just continue to learn from each and every one of you. It's the honor of my life to have served with you and to be sitting here in this moment and look at my dear friend, gone through a lot of highs and lows, Jessica Tunis and see at the bottom of the list, Linda, and to be thinking about when we saw each other in the days following your husband and you're passing around the paper with your mom's face trying to find her. We still have more work to do to honor their names. I want to thank you. God bless. Thank you, Supervisor. One of the things that you'll hear today is partnership. We could not be where we are five years in if we didn't have incredible partners up and down through the state and through the federal government. Very honored for us to have today FEMA's regional administrator, Bob Fenton, who has been here every step of the way for Sonoma County. And we would be nowhere near where we are in terms of recovery if we did not have his support, if we didn't have partners along the way. Thank you so much, Bob. Thank you to Sonoma, Santa Rosa, and some of the jurisdictions. Remember coming out, I'm sure I stopped by a river where there's an issue of creativity. The key to our water, traffic systems, functional development. One of the things that I want to share with you is that if we're showing that we're going to get rid of people for hours, Thank you to one of the first people who was on the duty. Mark is with Cal OES. He has been incredible for a great thank you. All of you who work as a community on heroes are those who rebuild their lives using adversity as a stepping stone to greatness. In the midst of the chaos, I guess that is what happened here. A catastrophe, those throws the community members in an effort to address the chaos, the chaos, the chaos, the chaos, the chaos, the chaos. Let's talk about bad pain conditions. And those are client-related as they proceed. Of course, that's what we see. We've seen thousands of people on fire after fire, including a conversation here on California. Two of our firefighters from Australia. There's a question at 2017. At that year, in Burr County and Los Angeles County with the Thomas fire in Santa Barbara County. And so we have these men in the roof. We trust that we click would be the first step to helping people. Achieving resiliency. Requires community approach. It's not just you do it and you stop. This is something that is long-term. And we live in a master-prone state. It's not just wildfires. It's earthquakes and floods and other kinds of events. And so preparedness must be a way of life. The approach of achieving resiliency. It includes all sectors of the community working in a team. An effort no better than demonstrated by employers. This is the government. And of course, exceptional leaders who are here on day one. To future what it is provided. You're lucky. You're lucky. You're lucky. That's the commemorate. That's the people of the community. And this year. Who came together. One team. And for the work that you continue to do. To save your community. You have truly been an example and inspiration on how it's done. Thank you very much. I was looking for my notes yesterday to find those numbers. It's just such an astounding fact. It's our police officers and our firefighters and our sheriffs and our MS and our nurses and bus drivers. So many others who stepped up during the fires and everybody is deserving of recognition. We need one more big round of applause. Jared Huffman who has been fighting in Congress. Tom Spinn Thompson made quite the first single dollar we need to recover. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Thanks so much for including me this five year anniversary celebration of recovery. Resilience. Felt worse. Or today. This community comes. We talk about where they were. All of us. Were that kind of moment as well. Can't help to reflect on our own individual. Can't help to reflect on our own individual story on anniversary's work. One of us. People led from Momsmith's home. People lost loved ones. Spent a lot of business. But make it all very eloquently to that. But we also remember the incredible heroism of the first responders. And coming together almost unlike not even a month. Including right here at neighborhood level. Sonoma's moniker. Sonoma's strong. Took hold. And that strength and resilience continues and is all around us five years later. We are forever changed by that firestorm. No one ignores or makes light of fires anymore. We have work to do still to make our homes and landscapes more resilient. We fundamentally change the way we think of fires and also the way we fight fires. Congratulations to all of you for your incredible progress with recovery and for your resilience. I am very grateful for the way you have stayed Sonoma strong. And I'm really proud of this community. Thank you. Thank you Congressman. 4 a.m. on October 9th. Amidst the chaos I get a phone call. It's my good friend and our Senator Mike McGuire. And Mike says I've already talked to Cal OES. I've already started calling FEMA. What does the city need? I'll be there in a moment. And he has been. He's been there for us every single step of the way. He has been a good champion for us in Sacramento on reforms. He has fought with insurance companies to make sure that fire survivors get what they need. I think we need to give him a big round of applause. Senator Mike McGuire. Good morning. I'm going to be a bit blubbering I think in my words today so I apologize. But I think we all are today. Today is a day of reflection, remembrance and celebrating who we are. First and foremost we need to take a moment to remember the dozens of neighbors who perish from the firestorm. We offer our continued love and support to their friends and families. And know that we have so much more work to do. And as we reflect back on the years since the North Bay Firestorm, I know about you but I couldn't be more proud to call Sonoma County home. And looking back at these five years, literally coming back from the ashes and so many rebuilding their homes and lives during all the challenges associated with the global pandemic as well. The progress that this community has made, the progress that Coffee Park has made, rebuilding neighborhood after neighborhood, it's nothing short of amazing. I'm a third generation here in Sonoma County. And I, growing up, I could never have imagined a wildfire reaching so deep into this community that we love. And it was a devastating feeling that night of October 8th, knowing that so many lost everything. So many barely escaped that inferno and so many were suffering. And I don't know about you, but that trauma still sticks with me today. And I still get emotional talking about it with my friends and family. And I think this feeling is going to stick with all of us for the rest of our life. That said, after the smoke cleared and the fire was finally put out, I am still in awe of what this community has accomplished. Don't get me wrong, the weeks and months following the fire were grueling. It was grinding on our souls, am I right? But what seemed like an unsurmannable challenge at the time eventually transitioned into a rallying cry that rings true today here in Coffee Park. We will rebuild stronger, we have rebuilt stronger, and we've become better prepared. The generosity, the heroics, the downright grit and hard work North Bay has shown since the fire storm should serve as a model for the rest of this nation. You all never gave in. You never gave up. And even on our darkest days, you kept pushing forward. The people of Santa Rosa and Sonoma County rose up and this community came together like never before. Ordinary people did extraordinary things to take care of neighbors and need and rebuild their homes in the communities that they love. And I am a firm believer that this is the story of our future. The stories our grandkids will be talking about. How we overcame this amazingly difficult challenge by stepping up and taking care of each other. It is such an honor to be with you today. And I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge one last person. We are so grateful to the neighbors, to the first responders, to the ordinary residents who stepped up. But I also want to acknowledge Mark Gilagucci, the Director of the State Office of Emergency Services. Director Gilagucci, after decades of serving this state, will be retiring at the end of the year, even though we told him he couldn't. And I know that I'm going to be forever grateful for his tenacious work on behalf of Sonoma County. You know, he didn't have to keep showing up. He didn't have to keep working, but he did. He kept working until we got the community cleaned up. Our homes were being rebuilt. He is one of the best in the country. We owe him a debt of gratitude. Thank you so much for our honor to be here today. And as I mentioned, nobody does it alone. We are lucky enough to have not just Senator Mike McGuire fighting for us, but also Assemblymember Jim Wood. Jim has been there for our community through the Tubbs Fire, through Kincaid, through Glass, and representing the North Coast. He is constantly at work helping folks to recover from disasters. We owe him a round of applause, and I want to bring Jim up to the podium. Good morning. You know, even now I'm not sure exactly what I was going to say, what I'm going to say here this morning. This fire touched me deeply on a personal level for a variety of reasons. I remember at, I don't know what time it was, 2 in the morning on October, what would have been October 9th at that point. I guess getting a phone call from James Gore and wondering what party he was at. And so I didn't answer the call. I just ignored it, thought it must be a mistake. And he called again. And it wasn't a mistake. And that set off what we experienced for weeks and weeks and what some of us continue to experience here now. So you hear the word resilience. You hear the word resilience over and over and over again. And to the people who started Coffee Strong, amazing what you see around you here. But there were others too. I see Brad Sherwood here with the Mark West folks, who created another node of real resilient work there. And there were people in Fountain Grove as well. I've been to other fires since then. And I will tell you honestly, there is nothing like the response we've had here in Sonoma County. It is a true testament to this community. The people who live here, the people who serve here. And it's just an honor to be a part of that. I knew we were going to be okay when at the fairgrounds where thousands of firefighters roared in over several days. There was this banner and it will forever be etched in my mind that I saw on offense there. The love in the air is thicker than the smoke. And that will stick with me forever. And that really epitomizes our recovery and how we move forward here. I didn't know at the time, my office staff, what can we do? Everybody wanted to do something. What can we do? We've seen links and resources for people because everybody needed information. They needed to know what can we do? Who can we talk to? And so we started doing this and building a separate website link that we could do to get information to people. And little did we know that this was the first of the mega fires. And so we paid that forward when the Thomas fire happened in Santa Barbara. All those resources went on to them. And subsequently it's been paid forward over and over and over again. And this community, and many of you may or may not know this, but I went after the campfire to see my colleague, James Gallagher, who represents the area and offered what can we do to help you. And what did I see there? I saw our own first responders there, paying it forward, doing the work they do. Death investigators, firefighters, police officers, sheriff's deputies, all there to help other communities. Sadly, you know, I don't think we're not, we haven't seen the last of these fires. And prevention and focus on our environment has to be and continue to be the top of mine. You know, I am at a point in my life where I don't see the forest for the trees anymore. I drive everywhere I drive in the district. I'm looking, is this area fire resilient? How is this area going to do in a fire? And I'm still shocked. It even areas in the county. And near in the neighborhood where I live, there is one piece of property that is beautifully taken care of. And the guy next door hasn't done a damn thing. We are only as strong as our weakest link. And if a fire starts in that neighborhood, the guy that did the right thing may lose his home because the guy next door didn't. So we have to focus on prevention. We have to focus on prevention, protection of property. And we have to recognize that climate change is real. And we haven't seen the last of this and through the resilience of communities and the efforts. And it is such an honor to work with people like Jared Huffman, Mike Thompson, our members of Congress, Senator McGuire, Supervisor Gore, Mayor Rogers. And I almost get PTSD when I see Bob Fenton and Mark Gilarducci. You know, my heart skipped a beat this morning when I saw these two guys. I said, oh wait, we're not, this isn't a disaster. But our federal partners amazing, amazing, and our state partners amazing. So as we remember today, think about the future as we rebuild these beautiful community, protect our communities, and pay it forward wherever you can because there's people out there that will experience what you experienced and they're going to need your help if you can do it. So thank you so much for the opportunity to be here today. Thank you, Assemblymember. And I do want to give a shout out to some of our other partners who are here. We have representatives from Senator Bill Dodd's office, Assemblymember Mark Levine's office, Senator Diane Feinstein's office, and Congressman Mike Thompson's office as well. Next up we're going to bring up Eduardo Cabrero. He is the HUD Field Director, Office Director for Northern California. That's the Housing and Urban Development Agency. Come on up, sir. Good morning. It's truly an honor to be with you here today representing HUD, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. And really, I wanted to use this opportunity to really share a little bit about the role that HUD plays in assisting and supporting your long-term recovery efforts. It is a great morning and I'm really excited and honored to be a part of it. In the aftermath of this disaster and really following Bob and FEMA's and Cal OES's critical initial response, together with all of you and these dedicated community leaders you see here, we at HUD mobilized to begin and support your long-term recovery. And one thing Congressman Huffman didn't mention, but I will because he's responsible for it, is that they secured $212 million in excess of that for the long-term recovery efforts here, along with Congressman Mike Thompson. And that's what really jump-started the restoration of your critical infrastructure and the rebuilding of the many, many homes, businesses, and yes, the parks that were destroyed here five years ago. Following this, HUD was directed by Congress to allocate these critical funds to where it was needed most, including here in Santa Rosa and Coffee Park. And we did, through the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Grant, we did that. What's great about this program is it started a planning process, not one that we led at HUD or that frankly anyone in federal government led, but one that was led by all of you, all of these state and local government leaders that you see here today, by engineers, by business leaders, and by local citizens like yourselves. So you all decided how to rebuild your community and really how to strengthen and protect it moving forward. And really how to make your community even stronger and together make it more livable than it really was prior to the disaster. HUD supported this along the way. We cut red tape where we could. We offered technical advice and assistance when needed. And we extended other forms of relief, including loan forbearance, loan modification through FHA. We made mortgage insurance more available to those of you who lost your homes. And we faced the daunting task of rebuilding together with you when you had to or when buying when you could. And we also made mortgage insurance available and home rehabilitation funds as well. We also helped connect FEMA and state to local housing providers that may have local housing opportunities for folks. And we didn't stop there. In fact, today HUD continues to help. In fact, just two weeks ago, HUD, through Secretary Marsha Fudge, awarded housing choice vouchers to Sonoma County and Santa Rosa to continue to help with the rehousing efforts through our local housing authority. And I was pleased to meet Michelle, your director here today. We continue to help people who are struggling still to find affordable housing in the community. And last month, Secretary Fudge also rolled out changes to the fair market rents, which essentially makes it easier for folks to be able to afford to live here by making the housing choice vouchers more valuable. So we'll continue to do that. It's been a long road, but HUD remains your committed partner. Thank you so much for having me. One of the things that they teach interns when you're first working up in the capital is to call people by their most important title first. And with that in mind, our next speaker is a fire survivor, former mayor of Santa Rosa and a member of the County Board of Supervisors, Susan Goran. Thank you so much for being here. I may tear up like so many lost my home recovering, but I'm celebrating here today. Five years ago in the evening, so many of us woke up and we were woke at that moment. We were notified by the sound of the wind, the branches snapping, the propane tanks exploding, the glow of the fire coming down the hill, our neighbors pounding on our doors, the first responders with their sirens blaring. Our teenage children notified by text message by their friends, fire is coming, get out now. We know better now how important emergency alert systems need to be, how robust they need to be. Too many of our community members perished because they were physically unable to evacuate. Jessica, we're thinking of you talking on the phone with your mother when she perished a journey's end. Someone in Coffee Park perished, also physically disabled, could not evacuate. A deaf and hard of hearing older gentlemen perished in Bennett Ridge. He took us hearing aids out, he could not hear the warnings. And we know that our alert systems not only need to be for us, for those members who are part of the COPE program and the CERP programs, but so many members of our community who are disabled and cannot be notified by the usual alert systems. We thank all of the neighbors, all of the teenagers who awakened parents, who notified their friends and neighbors. I even heard a story of someone in Italy calling someone saying a fire is coming, get out now. This person had no idea that their home was in danger and indeed they did lose their homes. But I'm also here to remember, and I really want to thank Oscar Pardo for so eloquently talking about the experience of fire survivors. I don't need to repeat his stories, but his story, his experiences have been echoed by so many of us. Going through the trauma, finding the grit and the determination and the passion and the resources for rebuilding. And many chose not to do that for very good reasons. Many have left the community for very good reasons. I said goodbye to good friends of mine. They evacuated Coffee Park, beautiful home in Coffee Park. They immediately found a duplex, remodeled it, moved into Oakmont and they said, we can't be here any longer. And so we said goodbye to them last weekend. They're moving to Minneapolis. A lot of snow, maybe not so many fires. Good luck with the snow shovel. But I understand her reasons and so many reasons for leaving. It takes a lot of faith and determination to move forward. Still to this day, it takes a lot of faith and determination and reaching out for resources to recover, regain our mental health. The trauma that we experience with a whiff of smoke, a gust of wind, checking watch duty for the fires surrounding us. We know what it's like because we've been there, done that. We are so much better prepared now than we were five years ago. And coming together as a neighborhood, Coffee Strong, Larkfield Estates. We've coped and fire safe councils formed all over Sonoma Valley because we are absolutely committed to say never again if we can help it. But I'm also here to remind you that it's not just the tubs fire that devastated and took so many lives. It was a week and a half of fires all up and down north in the pocket fire. Up and down at the Myocommas, the length of Sonoma Valley, the fires merging together. The Nuns fire started that very sane evening and just ripped communities asunder. Kenwood, Glen Ellen, Bennett Ridge, the areas around Lawndale, Schultz destroyed. Treone, Annadelle State Park, almost totally. And it took two days for the fires to wind their way around through the park to my home. I didn't know that I was in danger, but indeed it was. So I'm living in a beautiful new home, totally committed to fire resilient landscaping. And with every piece of burned irrigation I find in the yard again. Still, I'm reminded of the fires that we experienced together. We are stronger. We are committed. We are resilient. And we thank all of the folks up here for the services that they provided and continue to provide to help all of us move through this journey of recovery. And Oscar, you're wearing your t-shirt. I'm wearing a piece of my mother's jewelry that I was able to save. And my very trusty maryl doxiders. They almost never leave my feet. So we thank you for being here. And we join arms and reach across to all of you in the big hug. Oscar and I participated in an amazing film produced by Listening for Change, Embers of Awakening. It profiled two families who lost their homes. I was sort of in it a little bit. It's going to be shown at Pepperwood tomorrow night. I would encourage you to take an opportunity to view the film because there's such a strong profound linkage between what we experienced and the climate change that the earth is experiencing. It may be traumatic, but it is important for us to pay attention. Also, ending note, we will be dedicating the Linda Tunis Senior Housing Project at the home of pep housing at the end of the month. We've been vigilant in trying to get the senior housing project built, and it is yay. Thank you all. Our next speaker is the Field Representative for former Mayor Chris Corsi and current Supervisor on the Board of Supervisors, Jasmine Godino. Good morning, Supervisor Corsi. Regrettably could not be here, so I am here on his behalf to read a statement. As we commemorate five years since the firestorms of 2017, my heart goes out to all of the people who lost their lives. To those who lost their homes and everything they owned and in a broader sense to everyone who lost their sense of safety and security. Remembering the losses our community endured feels heavy, yet when I visit Coffee Park or talk to a survivor who is still in the process of recovery, I am filled with gratitude for the dedicated efforts that it took us to get to where we are in this journey. I am also immensely grateful for the ways in which our community came together in the brutal aftermath of the fires and built solidarity at the crux of such a tragic disaster. As the years have passed and the sense of urgency may have faded, I hope that we remember not only the tragedy but also the staunch sense of unity that sustained our collective resilience. Thank you. Thank you Jasmine. Next up we have Cal Fire Sonoma Lake Napa Unit Division Chief Ben Nichols. Good morning. I'm speaking to you this morning on behalf of the Cal Fire Director Joe Tyler and the Sonoma Lake Napa Unit Chief Mike Marcucci. As a native of Sonoma County, I have the honor to lead the men and women of Cal Fire here in the Sonoma County Operations Division. Sonoma County and our surrounding neighbors have seen some more than their fair share of devastating fires over the last five years. Those fires have tested us all to our core. First responders from all the agencies represented here today and many more have had to fight repeated catastrophic wildfires in their own communities, often with devastating outcomes. As a result of these shared experiences, agencies across the board have worked together to improve communication and fire ground tactics to be more agile during these rapidly expanding incidents. Emergency services across the North Bay are working closer together today than ever before because we share the knowledge that we are stronger together. In an effort to reduce the losses as a result of these devastating fires, some key areas of improvements have been made. First, we are utilizing technology to reduce the fog of war often experienced in these rapidly expanding incidents. Some of the technologies being used include remote detection, sensor aircraft and applications that share real-time information down to the firefighters on the ground so that they may gain better information on adjoining firefighting resources and the current fire environment. Second, fire has always been and always will be a part of the California landscape. To that end, Cal Fire and other agencies have adopted a proactive approach to protect communities and to create a more healthy and resilient natural environment. This is being done through fuels reduction projects, state, federal and local grant opportunities as well as educational outreach to prepare those communities on what they can do individually to harden their homes and prepare for those future fire events. Introducing good fire in the form of prescribed fire is our opportunity to bring fire back to the landscape in a beneficial way rather than risk catastrophic damage to communities and the environment. It took over a century for us to get here to where we are today so we cannot expect to fix it overnight. Just know that we are doing everything in our power to minimize the wildfire threat in both the near future as well as into the years to come. I will leave you with this. 95% of all wildland fires are caused by human activity. Please help us prevent fires. As we take this moment to remember the fires that have impacted us all I ask that you please help firefighters by ensuring you have an evacuation plan that includes multiple ways out and that you have taken the efforts to reduce the fuel around your home and harden your home so that we can defend it. Thank you very much. Before we go to our last speaker I just want to do a couple of additional shout outs and thank yous for being here. We have the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office who I wanted to make sure we gave a good shout out to and thank you for your work. We have the Sonoma County CAO that's Cheryl Bratton who is out here and congratulations on your impending retirement as well Cheryl. We have San Rosa's new city manager Marrakeesha Smith as well as council members Natalie Rogers and Victoria Fleming and now I'm going to call up to the podium our chief for our San Rosa Fire Department Scott Westrow. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Most importantly I'm the last speaker of the day so we'll get you all out of here real quick and anybody who knows me know this will be brief. So if you leave here with anything for me today I want to leave you with this. There's strength and honor in unity. What we have proven over the last five years is when we stand together we can accomplish anything. That we can be anything. Your family, your social network, a fire department, fire service, public safety sector, city, county, state and essentially just the entire community from a holistic perspective. But it takes that we to dare greatly, strive valiantly and realize the triumphant triumph of high achievement. What we have accomplished in the last five years is unmatched. We've built back stronger. We've vowed to make the changes necessary to protect this community and we have healed and grown together and will continue to do so. As part of the healing growth process I'm proud to announce that the city is commissioned an art piece with the North Bay fires and those that were lost. This memorial piece will be designed and built by Santa Rosa resident types fire survivor and our friend Adrian Littman installed in a place of peace and welcome. We'll announce the details when we get them. This is just really started but we want to create a space for the community to reflect and remember. Quickly I'd like to thank our partners in their dedication, determination and support. As Sonoma County fire chiefs and all members of the fire service in Sonoma County, our Cal Fire partners, our partners in law enforcement, emergency management, EMS and our local, state and federal legislators. Now that you gave me a bike I'm going to bring it back to Santa Rosa. So the response to recovery of these fires is not just the fire department it's not just the police department. The city of Santa Rosa is 1300 strong and during and after these events one mission. There's so much that happens behind the scenes that's outside of the purview of a shiny red fire track or a police car whether it's in the EOC or in recovery, planning, transportation, public works, parks, water, finance, etc. The city council and city manager's office have been exceedingly supportive with very clear leaders intent to me and the rest of the city. Do not take your foot off the gas. We will not stop until we are ready to go. Now, you gave me a bike so I'm going to talk about my department real quick. I'm proud and honored to be able to work with these dedicated individuals that work for the Santa Rosa fire department every day. Regardless of the phase or type of emergency, regardless of bureau assignment they remain stalwart every day to protect this community. A lot is asked of them and always and without question and will stop at nothing to protect this community. I want to publicly thank each and every member of our fire department for their hard work, dedication and support as we move forward together. In regards to my staff the real tire to hearing this but I'm going to bring it back to where I started. We are stronger together. What we've accomplished in the last five years as a community needs to be recognized, applauded and is the model of unity and our support and we will always be here for you. Thank you chief. My last round of applause I'd ask from the audience is for Sandy our interpreter who not only is interpreting today but also was with us all the way through the wildfires in 2017 helping to inform the community so thank you Sandy. Before we leave here today I wanted to bring back up James Gore. We thought it would be appropriate to give them a final moment of silence and then just thank you all for being here. Supervisor. Thank you very much. You know what's amazing about this process is we always we've done so much but we always have more to figure out. For instance I love that announcement of a memorial. I just had a meeting with our crew because we got Supervisor Corsi and I about 250,000 set aside and we're reaching out to families to figure out a group to put together and that might be different from what you're doing and we're going to have to align still because this is a... Okay before I read names I just want to honor somebody who looked at me a long time ago who's here with us today and said James as you continue to champion resiliency you got to stop every once in a while and realize that all of us have not been able to move on that we don't look back on that heroics. We look back on that night and we see pain that we have to live with each and every day. So when I say that we have work to do and follow up. That's required. I want you all to join me in honoring not just the lives lived but the resolve and the grace that still is waiting for the families of Karen Icock, Michael Azarian, Carmen Baritz, Carol Collins Swayze, Michael Dornbach, Valerie Evans, Mike Grabo, Arthur Grant, Suico Grant, Donna and Leroy Halber, Christina Hansen, Tak Fu Hong, Monte Kirven, Veronica McCombs, Carmen McReynolds, Lynn Powell, Marilyn Ress, Sharon Robinson, Lee Chadwick Rogers, Marjorie Marnie Schwartz. I'm going to start with you all. Daniel Martin, Southdard, Tamara Latrice Thomas and Linda Tunis. What we do from here forward is the only way we can honor them. Thank you everybody. Thank you again for coming. You're clear? Yeah. How the hell are you, man?