SONOMA, CA (WTAQ) – An Appleton East High School and UW-Madison graduate discusses his experience fleeing the California wildfires.
Sixty-year-old Paul Kitzerow says a neighbor’s phone call last week woke him up in the middle of the night, warning he and his wife that danger was looming in their Sonoma neighborhood.
“We took 5-10 minutes to scurry around, trying to grab phone, charger, computer, charger, a couple of scrapbooks, and the cats were the main thing.”
The Kitzerows were evacuated to a community center and have since been staying with family in San Francisco.
Kitzerow has not been back to his house but based on reports he’s heard, says it has been destroyed.
“I’m hopeful that we can find anything, honest to God, that’s my hope is that there are a few things there, because we literally had everything in our lives there.”
Kitzerow says it’s been especially tough since they just moved into their ‘dream home’ three months ago, after spending 30 years in San Jose.
“It’s extremely emotional, the crying, it’s a process, you think of all the things you had, things that are irreplaceable. That kind of comes in waves.”
Kitzerow notes the fires have devastated local economies throughout the state.
“It’s going to take the entire area years to recovery from this. There are some major, major wineries that are taking massive hits.”
Despite the dark times, Kitzerow is finding some positives, noting he and his wife intend to rebuild.
“As emotional as it is and as much as we lost, there are so many people that lost the same thing, and they may not have the resources that we have to stabilize and get on our feet a little bit and then to start recovering.”
Kitzerow says he has still been visiting Wisconsin three or four times per year.
