Watching the Park Fire spread into the Lassen area, a place of deep significance to me and my family, is bringing back old memories and old emotions. In 2017 the Tubbs Fire erupted and quickly became the most destructive fire in California history (at the time). It ravaged large parts of Sonoma, Napa and Lake counties. And although I was personally safe the entire time, it was traumatic seeing our local communities being torn apart. Lives were lost, thousands of homes destroyed, thick smoke filled the air for weeks and the screaming sirens of emergency vehicles became the norm. In a way it felt like a war zone. And while I was deeply grateful to all of the emergency responders, what brought me to tears was seeing crews from outside the area pour in to help. Not just from other parts of California, but other states and other countries even. They came to join the fight, they came to help protect us. To this day I get emotional thinking about it. That coming together, in force, was a beautiful thing to witness. But, to me, it felt like more than just fighting a fire, it felt like a small unification of humankind. And I’m seeing the same thing now with the Park Fire. In which men and women from different backgrounds, genders, religions and political beliefs, are coming together to defeat a common enemy. And, for many reasons, I’m so glad they are. Massive thanks to everyone out there fighting this fire.
"Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean."
-Ryunosuke Satoro
