Update 10:14 a.m. Friday: Big thanks to everyone who helped us locate Donny Riveras as the young man who helped Anna Solano and others escape from Coffey Park the night of the Tubbs Fire. Anna and Donny are in touch!
Anna Solano is one of the thousands of people who escaped their homes in Santa Rosa as wildfire raced into the city early the morning of Oct. 9. Now she wants to find the stranger she says woke her up as danger approached and, in doing so, saved her life.
Images of the stranger — a young man in a white T-shirt, jeans and a baseball cap — were captured by a security camera on Solano’s front porch in Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park neighborhood. The video shows the man frantically rapping on her door and repeatedly calling out, “Hello?”
Behind him, the sky glows orange as the Tubbs Fire draws near. The air is full of smoke and gusts whip a small American flag windsock near Solano’s front walk. Vehicles stream down the street as residents flee.
The young man keeps knocking. Inside the house, Solano’s dog barks.