It’s been a tough day for me as I know it has been for many others. Today marks one year since the Camp Fire blazed through Paradise, up to Magalia, and through unincorporated places such as Concow, Pulga, and Butte Creek Canyon. A day that started out just like any other. No one knew the panic that would ensue that morning or the sheer terror of driving through the flames that engulfed everything in its path.
My mom called and woke me up that morning, wondering if we were evacuating from the fire on the ridge. I wasn’t aware of a fire at that time but I was sure it wasn’t anything too serious. Fires were frequent on the ridge and in the canyon and I was sure it wasn’t something to be too concerned about. Mom said it looked really bad from down the hill and the sky was darkening. I could see a little cloud of smoke on my end but nothing that looked like we should be worried about. I told her we would keep an eye on it and listen for an evacuation warning.
RJ came inside from working with his dad at their place and said we needed to start packing the truck. Reports were coming in that the fire was bad. Paradise was on fire and we needed to be ready to evacuate. We could see RVs and trucks full of stuff evacuating up our road and into the mountains.
I started throwing clothes into trash bags and suitcases, grabbed my wedding dress, RJ grabbed his guitars. I made some sandwiches and grabbed water bottles. Thirty minutes later we had everything of value packed in the truck and we waited for the mandatory evacuation order. RJ filled up the truck with gas cans and I took pictures of our house and the belongings we were leaving behind in case we never saw them again.
Around 11am, we lost all cell service and internet. Our road was packed with people trying to evacuate. RJ and I decided it was time to leave. Dad and Mom-in-law would stay back with the farm animals as long as they could.
It took 4 hours to crawl into Chico. With only one main road out of Paradise that was literally on fire, people were utilizing every back road, mountain road and side road available. We were finally back in cell service and I let everyone know that we were ok and had safely made it down the hill.
We would spend the next 3 weeks at my Dad and Mom’s. Those first few days were torture. We didn’t know if our house would be spared. Every road to Paradise was blocked and we needed to rescue our animals, as did so many other people. Our donkey, 2 baby goats, the guard dog and the cat had been left at the property. We had just had the donkey and goats delivered only a couple days earlier and didn’t have a trailer for them yet.
A few days after we evacuated, our friend Dan had a trailer and we went up as Animal Rescue. We drove over downed power lines and saw flames still burning around charred houses and vehicles. We were able to rescue all our animals and dozens more from around Paradise over the next couple of days.
It’s still tough sometimes to process the amount of devastation that took place. Eighty five deaths and over 153,000 acres burned, making it one of the deadliest and most destructive fires in California history. But the outpouring of love and support from the community is something I’ll never forget. The entire county came together to help out.
Our house was spared by about a half mile but many, many others weren’t as fortunate. As I reflected on this day I couldn’t help but cry. The utter devastation, the houses lost, the lives lost because they couldn’t escape the flames, the pets lost because their owners couldn’t make it up the hill in time, the town that had lost its charm, its shops, its quaintness.
But the town is slowly rising from the ashes. It won’t ever be the same, but the people are persevering. They are rebuilding.
They are #ParadiseStrong.
~em