Forged in the Fires
TYLER FLORENCE’S UNCRUSHABLE CELEBRATES THE LIGHT OF A DARK ERA FOR WINE COUNTRY
On a frightfully windy night three years ago, Linda and Clyde Lorentzen fled their Santa Rosa home of 48 years—where they had raised their children and babysat their grandchildren—uncertain if they would ever see it again.
They didn’t.
In what would be recorded as one of the most destructive wildfires in the history of Northern California Wine Country, resulting in 44 deaths, at least 245,000 acres charred and 9,000 structures destroyed, the couple’s cherished family home set on a one-acre plot with a babbling creek and koi pond was incinerated.
When she finally returned to the property for the first time to see what remained, Linda did something unlikely: She let three complete strangers accompany her, with cameras.
At first, she didn’t place the stranger who “looked at me with those soft eyes and gently asked, ‘Would you mind if we filmed you seeing your home for the first time?’” Not an avid TV viewer, Linda didn’t realize the stranger was in fact a celebrity chef, known far and wide for passing judgment over battling food truck crews and the shenanigans of the worst cooks in America, and that closer to home he owned the well-regarded San Francisco restaurant Wayfare Tavern. She didn’t know that Tyler Florence, a rock star in front of the cameras for decades, was now stepping behind one to make his first documentary, titled Uncrushable, about those devastating wildfires and their aftermath, including the valiant efforts by first responders and residents to not only survive, but rebuild and flourish again.
All Linda knew was that “it was the nicest way I could have seen our burned-down house,” she says. “It was like it was meant to be. I had the sweetest man in the whole world saying I might be of benefit to them. He and his photographers were just quiet and let me look around. It was like having three angels protecting me.”
Her story is one of many recounted in Uncrushable, the 72-minute documentary that was shot in three weeks while the fires still raged. With his production company, Monarch Collective, Tyler volunteered his time to make the film, gaining permission to go behind fire lines and to share dramatic cell phone videos shot by residents in the midst of evacuating. The film, which was backed financially by the nonprofit Visit California, premiered in Santa Rosa almost a year to the day after those fateful conflagrations, and has since been shown at film festivals around the country to rapt, often quite emotionally overcome, audiences.
“I think when a huge disaster like this happens, people’s individual stories can sometimes get lost,” Tyler says. “Many of the people we interviewed told us how cathartic it was to tell their stories, and I’m humbled that I had the opportunity to capture this moment in time and give them that platform. It was an honor to be able to do that.”
He didn’t hesitate to tackle his directorial debut. The Food Network star is actually no stranger to directing, well, if you count the elaborate home movies he’s made over the years with his kids, complete with erupting volcanoes, stop-motion plastic dinosaurs and specialized soundtracks. Moreover, his wife, Tolan Clark Florence, grew up here, so the couple has many friends who were directly affected by the fires. For them, this project was very personal.
Indeed, Tyler was on his way to the airport on October 8, 2017, when he saw the sky turn ominous and ashy. He cut his trip short, returning to lend a hand, including at one point pushing two heaving carts through Costco with the fixings to make 500 servings of chili at the couple’s Corte Madera home. There, Tolan, their three kids, and friends formed a brigade, cooking and packaging food for first responders.
Tolan and Tyler had no qualms about bringing along their children— Miles, now 23, and even the younger ones, Hayden and Dorothy, now 11 and 10, respectively—to emergency shelters to help serve food, take out trash or comfort rescued animals.
“Tyler and I laugh that we’re either scarring them for life or raising some pretty resilient, socially aware children,” Tolan says. “If we land in the middle of that, we’d feel pretty good.”
When the cataclysmic Paradise fire erupted in November 2018, Tyler and two of his chefs immediately headed up to the relief camps to join the efforts being spearheaded by World Central Kitchen, the highly lauded organization founded by Chef Jose Andres. When Tyler returned home four days later, he told Tolan he was so shaken that he couldn’t imagine trying to celebrate Thanksgiving in their traditional fashion, knowing what was going on back in the fire area. So, after discussing it with their kids, the entire family headed to Chico to continue the work of cooking for fire victims and first responders.
On Thanksgiving Day, Tolan bought a turkey to cook at their Airbnb to try to give her kids some semblance of a holiday dinner, because they, too, were adamant about not returning home yet. Before she knew it, Jose Andres walked in, along with other volunteers, and they all started cooking together, united in creating a meal of gratitude under very trying circumstances.
That was the same sentiment—albeit on a much more sweeping scale—behind The Grateful Table, the culminating event shown in Uncrushable. On November 21, 2017, Tyler, along with Visit California and Outstanding in the Field, hosted a Thanksgiving-themed dinner for hundreds of guests seated at one long majestic table set up on the literal border of Napa and Sonoma counties. The meal honored and celebrated the strength and resilience of those affected by the Wine Country fires, and those who came to their aid. Many of the guests were first responders, and all proceeds from the benefit went to fire relief funds in Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties.
“It had been so rainy and cold then, and we were thinking ‘We can’t pull this off in just two weeks,’” Tolan recalls. “They built multiple tents the night before to go over the tables, just in case. But the sun came out and it turned out to be the most beautiful day. So many people came together after such horrific events. It was emotional for everyone there.”
So, too, has been the film. Tolan has seen it through several iterations, the first time in her family room with Tyler, their children and her parents. Afterward, Tyler scribbled down suggested changes, including one from Tolan who noted that he had filmed Linda expressing concern about her koi, but never answered what happened to them. Turns out a veterinarian from the University of California at Davis had rigged a horse trough with water in the back of his pickup to rescue the fish. The fish remained safe at the university until the Lorentzens moved into their new home in Oakmont, where one of the first things Clyde did was build a pond for the koi. That happy ending was incorporated into the film, much to Linda’s delight.
“After horrible floods, hurricanes and other tragedies, the news is always about the negative stuff ,” Linda says. “Nobody has ever tried to present what good came out of them. This shows how a community behaved after a terrible tragedy. Tyler helped bring beauty together.”
Still, it’s not an easy film to sit through. At its premiere in Santa Rosa, Tolan remembers people sobbing afterward. “It ended and an hour later, we were all still sitting there, hugging, chatting and crying,” she says.
Chris Benziger, vice president of trade relations for his Benziger Family Winery, acknowledges that he initially watched it out of a sense of obligation. A former firefighter for 26 years, he had only 20 minutes to bolt from his Glen Ellen home with his wife, two sons and her parents before flames overtook it during the Wine Country fires. After losing his home of two decades, he wasn’t quite sure he wanted to relive the experience when Tyler approached him about being in the documentary. But now, he’s glad he did.
“It was very emotional for me to watch it. I was trying to keep it together,” says Chris, who is rebuilding his home. “I know this sounds weird, but I feel blessed to be a part of this. I know we lost our house. That’s just stuff, and we’ll get it back. But the deep love and appreciation of our neighbors and family— you only get that from going through all of this.”
Husband-and-wife restaurateurs Terri and Mark Stark also are featured in the film. But they have never watched it. And they have no intention of ever doing so. For them, re-experiencing the loss of their first restaurant, Willi’s Wine Bar in Santa Rosa that opened in 2002 in a landmark roadhouse, would break their hearts all over again.
They tell me that at first they weren’t going to rebuild Willi’s. But after their employees implored them to do so, coupled with an outpouring of support from patrons around the country and the world who had dined there, the Starks had a change of heart. At press time, Willi’s Wine Bar was on track to reopen in a new location at Town & Country Center in Santa Rosa in late spring. Not only that, but they are also opening a seventh restaurant later this year, Grossman’s, a New York–style deli, bakery and beer garden, at the Hotel La Rose in Santa Rosa.
“Before Willi’s burned down, we were happy with six restaurants. We were done,” Terri says. “But when Willi’s burned down, it pissed us off. We decided to rebuild, and then other opportunities presented themselves. So we thought, ‘OK, maybe we’re not done.’ The only silver lining in this horrible fire is that it reignited our inspiration.”
Tyler hopes Uncrushable does the same for others like the Starks, by providing a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. He also hopes it prompts deeper discussions about the effects of climate change, as well as greater awareness about the true importance of community.
“Making Uncrushable is by far one of the most meaningful things I’ve done in my career,” he says. “It gave us the opportunity to tell a really timely and important story. It also made me really proud to be a part of these Northern California communities, which lifted up people in need in truly unprecedented ways.”
