The fires in Los Angeles County are bringing back memories to survivors of two of Northern California’s largest, deadliest, and most destructive wildfires. In Santa Rosa, residents are still heading after the October 2017 Tubbs Fire. “It’s hard because I remember that feeling of confusion, helplessness, and anger,” said Jeff Okrepkie, Santa Rosa District 6 City Councilman. Okrepkie and his family lost their home and most of their neighborhood in the Tubbs Fire. It took him about two years to rebuild. “They say it’s a marathon and not a sprint, but it’s a marathon made up of sprints,” he said. Okrepkie, who grew up in Santa Rosa, became an advocate for fire survivors on the city council. He said the process of rebuilding and recovering is strenuous. “The first step is find housing, file a claim,” he said. Then, it’s debris removal. Then, it’s finishing the claim. Then, it’s finding a builder. All of those steps, and they’re all massive, emotional undertakings and logistical undertakings.” The Tubbs Fire was characterized as the most destructive fire in the state for close to 13 months until the Camp Fire in Paradise occurred in November 2018. Both fires turned thousands of homes and entire neighborhoods into piles of toxic materials at homesites that had to be removed. Marcia Koester, a Camp Fire survivor, said her home was lost, and she was unable to rebuild in Paradise. She added that the scenes from LA County are hard to watch. “You see the fire, yes, but no one can relate to that loss unless you’ve been there,” Koester said. “They have so much horror in front of them, let alone their property. There’s so much garbage that’s going to go on. There will be lawsuits. There will be police investigations, and it’s like a lot of people in Paradise.” However, Okrepkie said survivors can find success in leaning on each other and not trying to go at recovery alone. He added that people should share information about insurance policies and builders and not make rash decisions. “You’re going to have hundreds of thousands of dollars in your bank account to do something with, so be smart about it and have a critical eye on how you move forward with builders,” Okrepkie said.