NAPA, Calif. _ Claudia and Francisco Alvarez had what they thought was a perfect situation in the mountains west of Calistoga in Napa County.
For several years, they worked and lived on the grounds of a rustic guest ranch with their two children, Steven, 7, and Sofia, 4. Claudia was in charge of housekeeping for 18 cottages. Francisco was in charge of maintenance.
They rented a three-bedroom house on the ranch property at a discount, and their employer was flexible, allowing Francisco time to drive Steven off the mountain to school in Santa Rosa, about half an hour away, and to pick him up each afternoon.
The fires that swept through wine country in October destroyed all that. Mountain Home Ranch, a 100-year-old resort, burned to the ground. In one devastating night, the Alvarez family's homes and jobs went up in smoke. On Wednesday, Claudia wept as she talked about their harrowing escape.
Her husband had left their house to wake up the ranch's sleeping guests. When she walked outside and saw the mountain on fire with the wind whipping embers and smoke through the air, she panicked. "I started screaming and yelling. It was really bad. Things happened really fast," she said through tears. "I wanted to save my kids."
With nothing but the clothes on their back, the family fled in their 1998 Honda CRV to the Santa Rosa home of Claudia's sister. Several hours later, they had to flee again, as the fire claimed her sister's house in the Coffey Park neighborhood, which was destroyed.
The Alvarez family ended up spending two months in the living room of relatives in Rohnert Park before Claudia found help at UpValley Family Centers, a nonprofit resource organization and social safety net devoted to helping low-income, mostly immigrant families.
"We provided them emergency financial assistance in the form of funds to purchase new beds, as well as gift cards for items for their new apartment," said Jenny Ocon, executive director of the organization, which helped more than 400 immigrant families after the fire. "We helped them pay their security deposit and first month rent, too."
Just last week, the Alvarez family moved into a modest three-bedroom town home in Cotati, south of Santa Rosa. Their 2-year-old German shepherd, Luna, remains in a shelter. Families at Steven's school, Austin Creek Elementary in Santa Rosa, have showered the family with gift cards, which Claudia said will help brighten what was looking like a dim Christmas for the children.
"Getting help from people who don't know me makes me very surprised and very thankful," she said. "Having people knocking on your door and saying 'I wanted to help you' makes me feel blessed and surprised and embarrassed."
For now, Francisco is earning money working with a friend who has a concrete business. Claudia is too traumatized to look for work.
"Even if you want to start a job, you need to have your brain clear, you need to be mentally strong," she said. "I am not feeling strong enough yet."
