Calistoga picks up the pieces after Tubbs fire

A smattering of businesses opened their doors in Calistoga on Monday following the five-day mandatory evacuation which was canceled on Sunday, Oct. 15.

The entire town of Calistoga, population 5,000, was mandatorily evacuated early Wednesday, Oct. 11, when the Tubbs fire returned to threaten the community after winds took the fire west to Santa Rosa. It was the only town in Napa County forced to do so.

Though not able to open for business, Clive Richardson and Eva King, owners of Calistoga Roastery, opened their doors with free coffee for anyone who came in.

'It's surreal,' Richardson said of the evacuation and the return.

While directing patrons to help themselves to coffee, Richardson was busy assessing supplies, throwing out spoiled menu ingredients like meat, dairy and bread, and talking on the phone with his suppliers in Sonoma and San Francisco. He hoped to be open with a limited menu on Tuesday, but suppliers from Sonoma would have an extra hour's drive due to roads from Santa Rosa being cut off.

One of them, Costeaux French Bakery in Healdsburg, was catching up after having the gas shut off, and another supplier in Santa Rosa didn't have cell phone service.

'All those silly little things you forget about,' Richardson said.

Cal Mart, the town's only grocery store, had reopened the moment the evacuation was lifted. Also open for business on Monday was the Calistoga Smoke Shop and the next door Ace Hardware.

Ace manager Tim Petersen said his team was 'working feverishly' to bring in emergency supplies. The store opened at 8 a.m. on Monday, and by 9:30 a.m. a few customers were already on their second trip to the store for items like dust masks, phone chargers, plumbing and cleaning supplies.

This morning, Ace's distribution center in Rocklin near Sacramento had already delivered a load that had been scheduled to arrive last week and had added more emergency supplies to the order. Another delivery was to arrive in the afternoon.

A dozen Calistogans gathered at the Hydro Grill downtown just hours after the evacuation was over on Sunday, drinking beer and wine on the house. Owner Alex Dierkhising only asked that patrons make a contribution towards the fire recovery.

Dierkhising, who has owned the Hydro for 42 years, said this is the first time he had seen an evacuation.

This was normally the busiest weekend of the season for the town, said Dierkhising. He also has a catering business that lost four wedding bookings due to the fire.

'We are so fortunate to be in town,' he said. 'Tourists may be back in two weeks or two months. We didn't suffer a complete firestorm. We can deal with this setback. We cry in joy that we are still here.'

At the Best Western Plus on the east end of town, manager Cody McLain was already taking new reservations over the phone. He said for the time being the 34-room hotel is occupied with California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. workers. Normally at this time of year the hotel is nearly completely booked. Eleven rooms are empty now.

McLain said the hotel sees a lot of repeat guests, and they will be returning.

'I've had a ton of calls. People love this area and will definitely come back. They are worried about the area, the people, the workers, it's heartwarming to see,' he said.

McLain, who moved here from New Orleans just last month, said this was 'literally a baptism by fire,' and that he had never seen people come together at this level. He also credited the town's mayor, Chris Canning, who is also president of the chamber of commerce, with notifying businesses of the mandatory evacuation, both before and after.

One of the biggest challenges for employers, Canning said, here and elsewhere, is keeping track of employees displaced by the fires. Also a challenge will be putting money, lost from a lack of tourists, back in businesses pockets.

'When it's appropriate and safe, we will invite them back,' Canning said, adding that could be as soon as Wednesday.

While the economic impact to the town has yet to be seen, it will be 'significant,' Canning said. But compared to the destruction in Sonoma County and further south in Napa, 'we have nothing to complain about,' he said.

Cynthia Sweeney covers health care, hospitality, residential real estate, education, employment and business insurance. Reach her at Cynthia.Sweeney@busjrnl.com or call 707-521-4259.

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