Rohnert Park’s Graton Casino opened its hotel to fire refugees in Sonoma County after the Kincade fire,  another destructive wildfire struck Sonoma County, and more than 180,000 people evacuated. Casinos are usually places where people gamble, drink, and dine, but in this case, things were a lot different. Graton opened some of its rooms to evacuees and provided food to first responders. A hotel spokeswoman did not have an estimate of how many rooms had been donated to evacuees but confirmed that Graton has pledged to donate $1 million to the fire relief effort. “Not only are hundreds of our very own team members and tribal members displaced permanently from their homes, but we are heartbroken for the countless neighbors, families and friends whose lives have dramatically been affected by this ongoing devastation,” said Greg Sarris, tribal chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, owners of Graton Casino. The 1 million dollar pledge has created an assistant fund for the immediate needs of team members displaced by fires, including food, clothing, and toiletries.

“I had evacuated to Graton after there was a warning that the fire might come near my neighborhood. Me, along with my husband, and dog all left and they were nice enough to let us stay there until we knew it was safe to go back,” says Nancy Just, a Santa Rosa resident. She goes on to say, “We were pretty frightened since this is not the first time this has happened. We were grateful for the opportunity to stay at Graton since we did not know of another place to go to.” 

Residents who had evacuated from other areas showed great appreciation that they had a place they could go to and stay. People who did not know others in Rohnert Park got the opportunity to stay at the Casino, and that helped make people feel more at ease during this devastating situation. Sebastopol residents Howard and Joyce Weyker say, “We stayed at a friend’s house in Rohnert Park when we got evacuated, but highly considered going to the Casino if needed. We had a nice place to stay, but we did not have a lot of room, so that would have been our second option. It was nice that it was open for us to go to if we needed another option.” 

Even through this devastation for many people and the chaos of having to evacuate, others felt a lot better that the casino opened their doors for them and helped out during this time. Luckily enough, Rohnert Park wasn’t an affected area during the fire, so many people got the chance to evacuate there and have a place to stay until they could return home. It was a scary time for many of us, having the fires happen just two years ago, and many more people having to evacuate this time around, so any opportunity for places to open their doors for others is very beneficial. It’s a sad reality that fire season has become more common in California as we have witnessed, so any businesses that are willing to let people in who may not have a place to go really helps out the community and shows great respect and appreciation to others.