Wildfire Burns Home of ‘Peanuts’ Creator Charles Schulz

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2017/10/12/wildfire-burns-home-of-peanuts-creator-charles-schulz/

The home of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz burned to the ground in the deadly California wildfires but his widow escaped, her stepson said Thursday.

Jean Schulz, 78, evacuated before flames engulfed her hillside home Monday and is staying with a daughter, Monte Schulz said.

The Schulzes built the California split-level home in the 1970s and the cartoonist lived there until his death in 2000.

“It’s the house he died in. All of their memorabilia and everything is all gone,” Monte Schulz said.

He had not heard from his stepmother and learned about the disaster from his brother, Craig Schulz, who also lost his Santa Rosa home in the fire.

“The fire came by at, like, two in the morning,” Monte Schulz said. “Everything’s gone.”

Fires in the Northern California wine country have killed at least 26 people since they began Sunday.

Monte Schulz said he had not visited his stepmother’s home in recent years because he lives more than 300 miles away in Santa Barbara. He wasn’t sure what might have burned.

“Obviously stuff from my dad and their life together, all gone,” he said.

Schulz usually worked at an outside studio and most of his original artwork and memorabilia are at the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, which escaped the flames.

But the loss of the house itself is painful, Monte Schulz said.

“I had memories of being in that house. I never lived there but I visited all the time,” he said. “That time of our lives is now completely erased.”

Now the Peanuts legend's family are now mentioned as victims in the Tubbs Fire in Sonoma County.

 

[LKellerIII]

I'm a current Bay Area resident who grew up in suburban Los Angeles, a block from the Angeles National Forest, where wildfires were common. Me and my parents were evacuated twice in the 60s for huge fires, which thankfully never reached our house. So having had some experience in the past, what shocks me about the North Bay fires is the loss of life - over 30 people, IIRC. Loss of life in southern California fires is rare. There were none during the recent La Tuna Canyon fire, also near where I grew up, though granted that fire was primarily in an unpopulated area. I'm not suggesting anything was done wrong by government officials in Sonoma/Napa, etc., just that it's shocking.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

I'm a current Bay Area resident who grew up in suburban Los Angeles, a block from the Angeles National Forest, where wildfires were common. Me and my parents were evacuated twice in the 60s for huge fires, which thankfully never reached our house. So having had some experience in the past, what shocks me about the North Bay fires is the loss of life - over 30 people, IIRC. Loss of life in southern California fires is rare. There were none during the recent La Tuna Canyon fire, also near where I grew up, though granted that fire was primarily in an unpopulated area. I'm not suggesting anything was done wrong by government officials in Sonoma/Napa, etc., just that it's shocking.

Some of the Sacramento and Bay Area News outlets are now reporting 40 people dead including a fire fighter that was conducting a rescue attempt. Dang this recent fire is way bigger than even the 1991 Oakland Hills Fire though.

http://abc7news.com/fire-crew-member-dies-battling-blaze-near-napa-valley-wineries/2538596/