Camp Fire - Paradise

NavLinear

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#1
I've been tight lipped on this one but I thought I'd share this with you. My mom lived in Magalia - an extension of the north end of Paradise. On November 8th she got up earlier than normal as she had an appointment that morning. She turned on the TV to a news station and found out about the fire. She was fortunate as many residents living in the area did not get much warning if any. The news indicated that the power company was cutting power so she opened the garage door and packed up her car. As she was putting items in the car she thought she would be returning home in a couple of days so she packed accordingly.

The scenes shown in the 60 Minutes link below show the southern escape routes down the mountain. My mom went up the northern route that went deeper into the Sierra Nevada Mountains - the fire had not reached this route yet. She and my deceased step dad had discussed escape routes over the years. We had communication with our mom in the AM but had not heard from her for many hours. My youngest sister wanted to drive up to find her but I suggested that we wait a bit more as the drive out had to be hell. I was at work when my sister called to inform me that our mom made it to Chico safely at roughly the same time that I had to evacuate work due to fire - 500 miles from mom. This was at approximately 19:30.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/reporting-that-respects-the-camp-fire-victims-60-minutes/

Our family is so happy to have our mom safe and with us. She was on the fence about moving down south to live with us. The fence is now gone.
 

laatsch55

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#2
Damn Dennis. So glad to hear she's safe. I thought you were kinda silent on the fires..
 

Gepetto

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#5
Glad you are all safe Dennis. That was a disaster for the ages. Sorry it affected the lives of so many, especially those that did not survive it.
 

Bradrock

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#6
Scary just to think about it Dennis. Glad mom is OK. Is she going to make the 500 mile drive down, or is someone on the way to check her homesite & bring her home?
Terrifying.
 

NavLinear

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#7
Damn Dennis. So glad to hear she's safe. I thought you were kinda silent on the fires..
Too much going on at the moment but thanks Lee. The insurance is stepping forward and so far all is going well for mom. She stays home and collects the shipped boxes of new stuff, mostly clothes, that are arriving daily. She is upbeat and very positive and that makes up happy.
Glad all are safe Nav. Fence is gone - she coming down to live with you?
Thanks - it was quite an ordeal. She is in town now and staying at my sister's home. If she stayed at my home it wouldn't be if - it would be when, our shepherd mix would knock her over. The dog stays attached to the your hip and has a tendency to bump you when she moves out.
 

NavLinear

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#8
Glad you are all safe Dennis. That was a disaster for the ages. Sorry it affected the lives of so many, especially those that did not survive it.
Thanks Joe - another extremely fast moving fire. If you're in the path you have to hunker down as you can't outrun them in most cases.

Scary just to think about it Dennis. Glad mom is OK. Is she going to make the 500 mile drive down, or is someone on the way to check her homesite & bring her home?
Terrifying.
Yeah Brad - really nail biting waiting for a phone call during the evacuation. She's here in SoCal and won't be moving back. The infrastructure is gone and it will take quite some time to clean up the area. It will be years before Paradise rises - if people decide to move back. We'll be traveling to what's left of her home in early January. Not much to see of her place as it's mostly ash.
 
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