Fire whips through tiny Sonoma County communities of Kenwood and Glen Ellen

A resident rushes to save his home as an out of control wildfire moves through the area on October 9, 2017 in Glen Ellen, California. Tens of thousands of acres and dozens of homes and businesses have burned in widespread wildfires that are burning in Napa and Sonoma counties. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) less A resident rushes to save his home as an out of control wildfire moves through the area on October 9, 2017 in Glen Ellen, California. Tens of thousands of acres and dozens of homes and businesses have burned in ... more Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images Image 1 of / 104 Caption Close Fire whips through tiny Sonoma County communities of Kenwood and Glen Ellen 1 / 104 Back to Gallery

Clumps of ash and soot continued to drift through the air Monday afternoon in the tiny Sonoma County communities of Kenwood and Glen Ellen, though most residents had long since fled to safety

Dozens of homes, farms and cars were reduced to little more than twisted metal and ashes along Highway 12, with dozens of small pockets of flame continuing to burn on the little that was left of dozens of properties.

Hassan Zaidi was roaming through the charred remains of the Trinity Oaks subdivision in Glen Ellen Monday, checking whether the house of a family friend had survived the blaze that whipped through the towns early Monday morning.

While his friend was out out of town, Zaidi found himself in the middle of the firestorm.

“I looked out the window and everything was on fire all around us,” Zaidi said. “It was catastrophic.”

But despite the devastation, Zaidi’s own home on Dunbar Street was spared and he sent his family to San Francisco while he stayed to check on the damage.

After clambering past the fallen tree limbs and downed power lines that littered a small residential street, Zaidi finally reached the gate of his friend’s home on Jerri Drive. Behind a knot of blackened trees was a long brick wall, the only part left standing of his friend’s once-stately home.

“I’m so sorry,” Zaidi said over the phone to his friend, who was at his home in San Francisco. “It’s burnt. It’s totally burned down, but you guys are fine. That’s all that matters.”

John LemMon said he stood on the roof of his Glen Ellen home late Sunday night, armed with his garden hose and dousing any flames and embers he could see. He also cut down fence poles with a chain saw, stacking them in mounds away from the fire in the hope of staving off the flames.

“It was apocalyptic,” LemMon said. He and his family evacuated around midnight Sunday, he said, but he “snuck back” into Glen Ellen early Monday morning to survey the damage.

His house was undamaged, even though his next-door neighbor’s shed was destroyed by fire.

“I got lucky,” LemMon said.

In Kenwood, the fire’s path seemed to take on a cruel sense of randomness, with houses with little or no damage standing just yards from charred husks that used to be their neighbors’ homes.

Nearly all of Kenwood’s wineries and businesses appeared to be deserted. At Chateau St. Jean Monday afternoon, acres of grape vines along Highway 12 were visibly unscathed and still laden with fruit. But a huge cloud of smoke billowing just behind the estate’s main building suggested the fire burning on the hillside was getting dangerously close.

At the town’s namesake Kenwood Vineyards, the gates were locked and there was no sign of fire damage.

Although the fires had apparently passed through much of Kenwood and Glen Ellen, police and sheriff’s deputies continued to block off large parts of the area, keeping people away.

Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com