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SANTA ROSA, Calif. - Comparisons are immediate, and painful.
The firestorm Ventura County is experiencing now mirrors the Bay Area's own devastating fires which sparked October 8-9, in Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino Counties.
As survivors close in on two months of trauma and aftermath, seeing the mirror image in Southern California can be an emotional trigger.
"It's awful to see it, and when the wind picked up here last night, I felt the same way as the night we lost our home," Mark West resident Chris Crossland told KTVU.
Crossland and his wife, both Kaiser physicians, are saddened to see the disaster repeating.
"It looks exactly the same there, not as populated an area, but it's spreading so fast," said Urmi Shende, as the couple had dinner in fire-scarred Larkfield.
"There doesn't seem to be very many firebreaks in that Ventura area, so it's scary," added Shende.
The busy restaurant, Carmen's Burger Bar, had its t.v. sets tuned to sports, with little demand for switching to disaster coverage among diners who recently survived one.
"I used to look at that kind of fire, as something that happens to someone else who lives in the wilderness, but it's clearly not that anymore," said Crossland.
The similarities are clear: whipping winds, little warning, escaping in the night with their lives, and firefighters helpless to stop an inferno from taking homes.
"You don't feel safe, and you don't feel safe anywhere," said Robin Bowen, Executive Director of the Parent Child Institute in Santa Rosa.
It is among the social service agencies helping North Bay fire survivors heal.
Tuesday brought an uptick in stress among clients.
"Some have really been on edge today, and I've been seeing it, my staff has been talking about it, and it's been hard," said Bowen.
The agency offers support groups for fire families, and expects the next one -on Friday, will be well-attended.
"Ventura's fire has brought back all those feelings of what's happening, are we safe, are they going to be safe?", said Meredith Standing, Community Relations Manager at CPI.
The images of burning homes and evacuations can intensify feelings of fear and uncertainty, especially as fire survivors are making their first inroads in recovery.
"Certain sights, smells can trigger a feeling of, 'oh no this is happening again'", said Bowen, "and they re-live it."
The burn zones are in different stages of recovery. Some lots have been scraped bare. Others appear untouched, a jumbled mess of melted metal and debris. A few even have Christmas trees, sparkling in the ruins, a sign of resiliency.
Local survivors feel deep sympathy for the Ventura victims, because unlike most observers, they really do know how it feels.
"Having gone through this ourselves, it's just so painful to watch," said Rose Quinones, pausing from her meal at the Burger Barn.
"We know they had a horrific night like we did that first night, but we're all Californians and we're all in this together. "
Mental health professionals advise talking about post-fire stress and emotions.
PTSD can manifest in a variety of ways, including impatience, lack of focus, worry, withdrawal, and difficulty eating or sleeping.
Links at KTVU.come offer guidance to free counseling, a help-line, and the support groups available.