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Several of the large fires burning in the Bay Area have prompted evacuations.
If having to flee your home in a wildfire isn’t stressful enough, this fire season there is the added issue of the coronavirus pandemic.
At the Crosswalk Church in Napa there is a big, handwritten sign that greets evacuees fleeing the Hennessey Ridge Fire, describing the restrictions they will have to meet to enter. Evacuees will be required to wear masks and undergo a health screening and if you do not really need to be there, you will not be allowed inside.
"We need people to show us identification or address verification because we need to be so careful about who is allowed in," said Napa County Supervisor Diane Dillon. "We want to make sure that it’s really only for those directly impacted by the order."
Meals will have to be individually packaged as opposed to a large buffet line.
The strict measures are necessary to prevent a wildfire from sparking a virus outbreak.
But Dillon said the county is ready.
"Equipped, prepared, we practice all the time for emergencies - although we haven’t had to practice, really, for the last three or four years," as the county has been faced with the real thing instead.