Back from fighting a wildfire on the Oregon border and coordinating rescue missions in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, Chris Landry got a 60-hour break from humanitarian disasters before a new one crawled up to his Glen Ellen doorstep.
Without a truck or fire hose, the Oakland Fire Department captain used a shovel, water from a nearby creek and two 3,000-gallon tanks, and a tractor — until its hydraulic line melted — to smother the Nuns Fire when it tore through the Sonoma Valley the night of Oct. 8, confronting his and his neighbors’ homes with two fronts of flames.