VIDEO: Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park is hardly recognizable these days. The neighborhood was burned to ashes by an unrelenting inferno eight years ago and has been undergoing a rebuild since then. Emil Lyon lived through the terror of the Tubbs Fire. “A young guy came and pounded on our door. He said, ‘We got to get out of here. There’s a big fire,” recalled Lyon. His old red truck somehow survived and still runs strong, but the Tubbs Fire destroyed his home. “It took us a while to get out of here, but we got out of here,” said Lyon.
He was displaced for nearly two years before his home was eventually rebuilt. He continues to fill his front yard with plants. “You look at Coffee Park, over 96%, 97% rebuilt with few vacant lots. Fountain Grove still has a lot of construction underway,” said Paul Lowenthal, Santa Rosa Fire spokesperson. Residents said they’re accustomed to nearly a decade of constant construction. The owner of this home in the Larkfield Wikiup neighborhood, who couldn’t talk to KPIX on camera, said he’s fortunate his home will be completed.
