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SONOMA, Calif. – Outside one of the first shops to reopen for business on an empty central square in California wine country, clerk Rhiannon Lorenzini swept the sidewalks as the sky cleared of ash more than a week after the state’s deadliest group of wildfires ignited.
In a wine region that normally draws more annual visitors than Disney World, Lorenzini waved to some of the few passers-by: firefighters in firetrucks rolling through Sonoma’s normally thronged 19th-century plaza. The blazes have left many business owners and employees without work or pay for nine days.
“I’m really grateful to be back at work, safe. And praying to have business here,” Lorenzini said, as authorities began to lift evacuation orders this week and a utility restored power to more of the area, where fires have killed at least 41 people and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses.
“I do have bills coming up that I have to pay,” said Lorenzini, who works at a home-goods store targeting visitors flocking to the more than 1,000 wineries in Sonoma and Napa counties. “You…
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