Brennan Blackford sat in the grass in front of a McDonalds with his three border collies, Oakley, Willow, and Leaf. He said his home is fine, but it was a couple streets away from the blaze.
That first night, he slept in his truck in a warehouse parking lot with his pups.
“I actually wanted to give them more room, so I laid a sweater in the bed of my truck, and I slept back there. I let the dogs have the car so that they were more comfortable,” Blackford said.
He couldn’t find a hotel room on the first night, and refused to be separated from his dogs. He eventually found a room that allowed pets for $59 at SureStay by the Reno Airport. He’d like to see government subsidized hotel rooms during emergencies.
“A lot of people didn’t have somewhere to stay the first night, and the subsequent nights. There’s a lot of people out here struggling, and 100 to 200 bucks a night, I mean, that could be their food budget for the month. They could be loading up credit cards,” Blackford said.
He doesn’t have social media, but he’s been following the fire response on Facebook. When he checked his phone, he still didn’t have power.
When he returns home, the first thing he wants to do is see if there is damage from melted water leaking from the fridge and freezer.
