November 8, 2018, I received a startling Facebook message from my lifelong friend, Jean. She and her family were ordered to evacuate their house due to fires.
The Campfire
Never in my wildest imagination did I think this was a fire to become the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history. Named Campfire, it ranks sixth in the list of deadliest U.S. wildfire overall. It was later discovered that a fallen utility pole wire is what started the fire, not a campfire. Yet Campfire remains the name of this historic beast.
The Escape
All that Jean’s family members could grab were a few clothes, their tablets, laptops, and their two small dogs. They could not take their cats as they scattered, not to be found. They drove through fire-lined streets to safety.
Fortunately, a shelter in Chico had just enough beds left for Jean’s family of five. However, Jean’s mom, who lived alone, was still missing. The next day she was located in another shelter. Someone found her walking down the street with only the clothes on her back, clenching a picture of her deceased husband in one hand and his war medal of honor in the other the day before…
With both Jean’s home and her mother’s home burned to the ground, Jean and her family spent at least two months in a shelter, then moved to a hotel. In the meantime, Jean’s mother went to live with her son in Reno. It was a couple of months more before a home that could house the five of them was located in Oroville. Another beautiful, rural area, just minutes from the reservoir and dam, they are happy in their new home. But they still miss their Paradise community and possessions that cannot be replaced. To date, only one of five cats have been found,
Remembering Paradise before the Campfire
I visited Paradise in 2013 and took video clips of the area. On this anniversary, I assembled the clips and created this video to aid in remembering Paradise before the Campfire.
