It has been a harrowing week starting last Thursday morning at 8:15 AM with a butt dial call from Earl's cell phone to Darla when she heard sirens in the background. She immediately called back and talked to her Mom who said that the Paradise Fire Department was at their door and they had to evacuate. There was a fire that had started on the other side of Lake Oroville and the Feather River and it had jumped the river and was heading up the canyon to their property. It was a blustery day with winds up to 50 MPH in gusts in the canyon. Paradise is a bucolic town built at the top of a canyon on one side and a steep hill leading up to the city from Chico. It is a place to retire and enjoy your golden years.
All of that changed on Thursday when the winds blew and a combination of drought, dry brush and winds all combined to create what would become California's deadliest wildfire. The fact that there are 27,000 people in the town and many are older and in declining health was a major contributor to the loss of life.
Earl and Francis packed up their motor home, hitched their Jeep Cherokee to the tow bar and headed out of town. Unfortunately the fire was faster than them as it raced through the town and cut off the main means of egress from the city. They made it into the middle of the town on Skyway and were told to turn off and park on the side of the road and exit to a parking lot. The fire department basically set up a perimeter around the parking lot and they were trapped there for about ten hours. The top two and bottom two of the pictures above were taken by Earl on his cell phone as they sat and waited for the authorities to turn them loose. The other three are from a local media source. The destruction of the Black Bear Diner hits hard as it was one of our family meeting spots for meals up in Paradise.
Earl and Frances saw more devastation and sadness that day than you should have to endure as they sat and watched their retirement home city go up in flames. They watched as homes and business burned and trees would explode in the path of the fire. As of this writing there have been 45 confirmed deaths but that toll is unfortunately rising as the teams of workers go house to house and search the charred remains for victims. They have cadaver dogs that are looking at the completely burned out remains of homes as they try to determine if human life was lost. Many of the victims were shut ins with serious health ailments and on oxygen or confined to wheelchairs. There were also many victims that burned in their cars as they tried to escape the holocaust, but their egress was blocked by fire and the flames overtook them. There were six people that died in a remote area and there was a dead end on the block. There was only one way in and out an they died in their cars as the wildfire overtook them. There are still over 200 people unaccounted for.
The fire department finally released the 500 from the parking lot about 5:30, but Earl and Francis were the last to be released because of the size of their RV that needed to be turned around and headed in a different direction. Even when they finally got going they were stopped at an intersection by a caravan of cars from the smaller community of Magalia above Paradise that also was being evacuated.
Earl and Francis caught up with his sister and brother in law who were visiting them when the fire hit and both had to evacuate. They stayed overnight at the parking lot of the Lake Oroville forebay in Oroville. It was there that they ran into one of their neighbors who worked for PG&E as a below ground lineman. He was able to get back into the city and take cell phone footage of their neighborhood. Their shed behind the home had burnt with all of the tools and their boat, but the house was still standing. It is bittersweet news as the town lost about 90% of the homes and 80% of the businesses. The hospital is still standing and their church, but several shopping centers burned to the ground and most of the restaurants are gone. They had pretty much resigned themselves to their home being gone and now they have to plan to be back in the city in the coming weeks to see what has been damaged and the extent of the smoke damage. Earl is concerned that the value of the home has dropped dramatically and I told him, "Yes, if you were to sell now", but once they make a few repairs it will be a prime location for a rental for the locals that must remain in the town like the fire fighters, government officials, church and business leaders as well as the army of contractors and workers that will descend on the area to rebuild it. We are not sure what they will do and they are not making any decisions now, but their experience was horrific and they can't imagine living there with just a shell of the community left. The city and environs are still closed and they are trying to limit looting and additional vandalism. They already found a group of looters that were dressed as emergency workers, but were there to rob the victims.
Earl and Francis have their RV at the home of a friend from church in North Chico and they have their home on wheels as their home for the next month or so as they await the city to reopen for victims to assess the damages.
Darla and I drove up Sunday to Chico and surprised her folks at the church that has welcomed the Paradise Alliance Church members in to their fold in Chico. We met them and were able to pray with them and cry with them as the stories from their church members were told, so many of them left with a car and the clothes on their backs. So much sadness and misery is heart breaking, but at the same time there is a resourcefulness shown and a spirit in Christians that always amazes me. I don't know how non Christians navigate life's sorrows without the love of a Saviour.
Well, I wanted to get Earl and Francis' story on the blog as it is a defining moment in their lives and a tragedy that they have made it through. They were shaken, but their faith remains strong and they both know that their true treasure is stored in heaven and not on earth.
Take a minute to give thanks for all that God has blessed you with and cherish family as so many lives have been torn apart by this tragedy. God bless all of you. Ciao.
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