Santa Rosa fire: How a sudden firestorm devastated a city

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/09/santa-rosa-fire-how-a-sudden-firestorm-obliterated-a-city/

SANTA ROSA —The inferno swept up over a wooded ridge, like many California wildfires do, but this one was different.

Like a terror in the night, this wall of wind-whipped flames took direct aim for the heart of a city, not just the rural outskirts, not just the homes high in the hills or off the grid. The Tubbs fire — one of 14 wildfires that scarred the people and property of eight Northern California counties late Sunday and early Monday — incinerated dozens of city blocks in Santa Rosa, destroying so many of the trappings of suburban life; from the Hilton Sonoma Wine Country and Fountaingrove Inn to a technology park, from Applebee’s and Arby’s to Kmart and Kohl’s.