Phyllis Rogers checks for mail in front of her destroyed home in Larkfield, near Santa Rosa, Calif., Monday Oct. 16, 2017. (Kent Porter/The Press Democrat via AP) 
Alameda County Search and Rescue teams search for a sign of human remains in the Coffey Park area of Santa Rosa, Calif., Monday Oct. 16, 2017. (Kent Porter/The Press Democrat via AP) 
Karen Atkinson and Amiga, her 7-year-old Human Remains Detection dog, search the area of Coffey Park for human remains Monday, Oct. 16. 2017, in Santa Rosa, Calif. (Kent Porter/The Press Democrat via AP) 
Marin County Search and Rescue member Karen Atkinson gives her dog Amiga a drink of water during their search for victims in Coffey Park in Santa Rosa, Calif., Monday, Oct. 16, 2017. (Randy Pench/The Sacramento Bee via AP) 
Search and rescue members from Alameda and Marin counties search inside a car which is covered in debris in Coffey Park in Santa Rosa, Calif., Monday, Oct. 16, 2017. (Randy Pench/The Sacramento Bee via AP) 
Authorities sift through the burned area of a home as they search for victims at Coffey Park area of Santa Rosa, Calif., Monday, Oct. 16, 2017. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) 
Tom and Catherine Andrews pose at their home in Santa Rosa, Calif., Monday, Oct. 16, 2017. They live on the edge of devastation. On one side of their mid-century style home, the deadly wildfires that ravaged parts of Northern California for more than a week wiped away the houses of neighbors they have known as long as two decades. On the other side, were those like the Andrews, who were spared. (AP Photo/Terry Chea) 
The arched entryway Monday Oct., 16, 2017, is all that remains of a home that was destroyed in a wildfire that swept through the area last week in Santa Rosa, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) 
A United States flag hangs from the charred remains of a home in Santa Rosa, Calif. Monday, Oct. 16, 2017. Massive wildfires swept through area last week destroying thousands of homes and businesses and claiming the lives of dozens of people who were unable to escape the flames. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) 
A swimming pool sits among the charred remains of a home in Santa Rosa, Calif., Monday, Oct. 16, 2017. Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano said Monday there are reports of dozens of people missing in the county a week after deadly wildfires started in Northern California’s wine country. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) 
Workers at the Signorello Estate winery install new irrigation pipes to replace ones burned by wildfire Monday, Oct. 16, 2017, in Napa, Calif. State and local officials say they are trying to get people back into their homes, but they cautioned that it could take days and even weeks for neighborhoods hard hit by Northern California wildfires. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) 
A house stands intact above one that was destroyed by wildfire near Atlas Peak Road Monday, Oct. 16, 2017, in Napa, Calif. State and local officials say they are trying to get people back into their homes, but they cautioned that it could take days and even weeks for neighborhoods hard hit by Northern California wildfires. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) 
A Pacific Gas and Electric base camp is visible in the distance at Starmont Winery and Vineyards, Monday, Oct. 16, 2017, in Napa, Calif. With the winds dying down, fire crews gained ground as they battled wildfires that have devastated California wine country and other parts of the state over the past week, and thousands of people got the all-clear to return home. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) 
Firefighters from Southern California wait to check into their rooms at the Napa River Inn, Monday, Oct. 16, 2017, in Napa, Calif. First responders have been allowed to stay free at the hotel all week. With the winds dying down, fire crews gained ground as they battled wildfires that have devastated California wine country and other parts of the state over the past week, and thousands of people got the all-clear to return home. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) 
A United States flag flies over the charred remains of a house in the Coffey Park area of Santa Rosa, Calif., Monday, Oct. 16, 2017. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) 
The National Guard deploys in to Larkfield, near Santa Rosa, Calif., Monday Oct. 16, 2017. (Kent Porter/The Press Democrat via AP) 
From left, Rick Olcese, Ty Knapp and Ariana Olcese search for the Olcese family cats in the Larkfield neighborhood, Monday Oct. 16, 2017, near Santa Rosa, Calif. Calm winds gave an advantage to firefighters trying to tame the flames of deadly wildfires on Monday. (Kent Porter/The Press Democrat via AP) 
Chris Bipes, right, looks at a coin from his collection which he found in the ashes of his home near Coffey Park in Santa Rosa, Calif., Monday, Oct. 16, 2017. (Randy Pench/The Sacramento Bee via AP) 
Smoke from the Nuns fire wafts over the Welcome to the Napa Valley sign, Monday, Oct. 16, 2017, in Oakville, Calif. State and local officials say they are trying to get people back into their homes, but they cautioned that it could take days and even weeks for neighborhoods hard hit by Northern California wildfires. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) 
A man stops to take a photo by the Welcome to the Napa Valley sign as the Nuns wildfire burns in the background Monday, Oct. 16, 2017, in Oakville, Calif. State and local officials say they are trying to get people back into their homes, but they cautioned that it could take days and even weeks for neighborhoods hard hit by Northern California wildfires. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) 
Tyler Knapp looks over the burned remains of a pickup truck in Santa Rosa, Calif. Monday, Oct. 16, 2017.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) 
A house stands intact above one that was destroyed by wildfire near Atlas Peak Road, Monday, Oct. 16, 2017, in Napa, Calif. State and local officials say they are trying to get people back into their homes, but they cautioned that it could take days and even weeks for neighborhoods hard hit by Northern California wildfires. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) 
Chris Alejos, left, and his wife, Brittany, get help from friend Nick Cann as they remove a bed frame from their home in the Coffey Park area of Santa Rosa, Calif. Monday, Oct. 16, 2017. The Alejos home was not damaged by the fire that destroyed homes all around theirs, but smoke damage and no power made it unlivable for now. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) 
A scorched truck and wheelchair sit outside the charred remains of a house in the Coffey Park area of Santa Rosa, Calif., Monday, Oct. 16, 2017. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
SANTA ROSA, Calif. | A week after fleeing wildfires, tens of thousands of Californians are drifting back into their neighborhoods.
Some will face the prospect of destroyed homes. All will face the possibility of lasting emotional damage.
“It’s never going to be the same,” said Rob Brown, a supervisor in Mendocino County, where all 8,000 evacuees were cleared to go home Monday. “You’re going to have to seek a new normal.”
The fires, the deadliest cluster in California history, have killed at least 41 people and destroyed nearly 6,000 homes.
The thousands of calls coming from concerned residents in neighboring Sonoma County “have shifted from questions about evacuation to questions about coping,” Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane said.
“Many people who call are sad and worried, the shock has worn off and the sadness, depression and loss is setting in.”
As a former grief therapist, she advised people with a family member or loved one who has lost everything to understand they can’t fix this but they can offer support.
“Provide a compassionate listening ear right now, and let them feel whatever they’re feeling,” Zane said.
And those who must rebuild from nothing are in for a changed life.
“You’re in for decades,” Brown said. “You’ll see benefits within years, but you’re literally in for decades of recovery.”
Jennifer Kelly and her husband and three sons lost their home and everything in it to a fire in Middletown in Lake County two years ago.
Now, with the new home 95 percent rebuilt, there are distant sirens, helicopters and tankers, plumes of smoke, on-again, off-again evacuation orders.
“I’m pretty anxious,” she said Sunday in their new home, 95 percent complete. “We wake up a few times a night, one time last week we saw red on the horizon which was a little intimidating.”
The Kellys are ready to evacuate. Since they started from scratch two years ago, aside from their pets there’s not much to put in their van.
They have talked about what they’ll do if it happens again: “We’re moving far away, to Wyoming,” she said.
The return home was emotional even for those whose properties were spared.
“When we came up to check on it, we were amazed it was here,” said Tom Beckman. “All the trivial things we have to work on — cleaning up, replacing the stuff in the fridge and freezer — that’s nothing compared to my friends who lost their homes.”
In the hard-hit city of Santa Rosa, two hospitals were forced to close during the fires, leaving just one open, St. Joseph Health.
Eighty-three hospital employees and 51 doctors had homes destroyed during the fires, though many continued to report to work.
“We expect the number to go up,” said St. Joseph Health spokeswoman Vanessa DeGier. “We have a bunch of folks going back tonight after evacuation was lifted.”
There was also good news to report.
Vicki White, chief nursing officer, said that a total of 36 babies were born at St. Joseph during the week since wildfires started, which represents about three times the normal delivery rate.
“All of those babies are doing very well,” she said
Improving weather, the prospect of some light rain later in the week and tightening containment of the flames were tempered by the first death from the firefighting effort — a driver who was killed when his truck overturned on a winding mountain road.
The truck driver, who had been delivering water to the fire lines, crashed before dawn Monday in Napa County on a roadway that climbs from vineyards into the mountains. No other details were available about the accident, which was under investigation, said Mike Wilson, a fire spokesman.
In the historic main square of the wine and tourist town of Sonoma, a statue of the community’s 19th-century founder was draped with signs thanking firefighters who have saved the town from disaster.
“The love in the air is thicker than the smoke,” read a sign on the bench that displays the statue of Gen. Mariano Vallejo, which was wearing a face mask.
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Associated Press writers Ellen Knickmeyer in Sonoma, Brian Skoloff in Napa, Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles, Martha Mendoza in Santa Cruz and Brian Melley, Janie Har and Jocelyn Gecker in San Francisco contributed to this report.
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Follow the AP’s complete wildfire coverage here: https://apnews.com/tag/Wildfires.