North Bay Evacuees Look for Hope Among Ashes of Kincade Fire
GEYSERVILLE (KPIX) -- Downtown Geyserville was filled with trick-or-treaters Thursday to celebrate Halloween.
But -- about a mile east -- it was a very different scene as people tried to find some hope among the ashes.
Bernadette Laos was evacuated a week ago. As she left in the pajamas she was wearing that night, she regretted not taking two valuable belongings: her dad's wedding ring and her husband's wedding ring.
Then on Thursday after a two-hour search sifting through the ashes she found a treasure under the crescent moon. It was her husband's ring.
"I didn't think in a million years I was going to find it," Laos said.
She now has that ring wrapped around her finger and she was able to find other sentimental items as well such as a bracelet belonging to her mother.
"This is my whole life here," Laos said. "The last 58 years is here on the ground so to have something is better than nothing."
Bernadette Laos was unable to find her dad's gold ring. She wonders if it melted.
But she realizes the most important thing is that her family is OK.
Just around the corner from Bernadette's home, a house still standing is surrounded by devastation.
Ruane Gomes, the homeowner said, "(I) kind of felt guilty for a while but why feel guilty? It's not my doing that it's here."
More than a thousand area residents hit hard by the effects of the fire and power outage came to the Finley Senior Center in Santa Rosa on Thursday. Catholic Charities along with the city teamed up to help people put food in the table.
