Barry Bonds and a number of other ex-professional athletes were forced to flee a celebrity fundraiser at Mayacama Golf Course in Wine Country, due to a raging wildfire that ravaged portions of Northern California early Monday morning, as first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
In addition to Bonds, former Major League Baseball players Bret Saberhagen, Eric Gagne and Joe Carter, as well as former Olympian Dan Jansen, were among those attending the fundraiser hosted by former 49ers Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott.
“It was a crazy, surreal night,” Saberhagen told the Susan Slusser of Chronicle. “I was out on the balcony at Mayacama when the power went out and sat down, and saw the moon come up, it was very nice. And then I saw the moon turn orange and it started getting lighter and lighter. I saw the fire coming over the ridge and I could hear propane and gas tanks popping.”
Both Saberhagan and Gagne were among a group who helped others at the hotel evacuate their rooms.
“Eric was yelling, ‘Get up, get up,’ knocking at every door, and when I opened the door, smoke billowed in and I could see areas on fire,” Saberhagen said. “There was a telephone pole on fire, the grounds were on fire, ashes were flying all over the place, and what really scared me was that there was a gas station across the street.”
Bonds called friend and former MLB player Eric Byrnes on Monday and told him about the bizarre scene.
“Barry said, ‘You’re not going to believe this. It was crazy,’” Byrnes said. “When he walked out of his bungalow, the flames were right there, so he bounced out of there, and because so many people didn’t have cars, he was taking them all to the next hotel. He made multiple trips. He got evacuated again from that next hotel, but Barry was anticipating it, he said, ‘I know the fire is coming down here.’ It sounded really chaotic.”
The wildfires, which have decimated a number of neighborhoods in Santa Rosa, have left at least 10 people dead and 100 others injured, and have destroyed 1,500 residences and buildings.