Five Die Trying to Escape Wildfire That Destroyed Northern California Town

The Butte County Sheriff’s office confirmed Friday that five people were found dead in their vehicles Thursday in the town of Paradise. The unidentified victims apparently were overcome while trying to escape the fire, according to a press release.

Butte County Sheriff Korey Honea told local television stations that additional reports of deaths are being investigated, the Associated Press reports.

The Camp Fire started early Thursday morning and quickly spread to more than 31 square miles in just a few hours. By late Thursday, it became apparent that Paradise, a town of 27,000 people north of Sacremento, had been devastated by the fire.

“Pretty much the community of Paradise is destroyed, it’s that kind of devastation,” said Cal Fire Capt. Scott McLean late Thursday. “The wind that was predicted came and just wiped it out.”

Mark Ghilarducci, director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, confirmed that the fire has claimed lives but was unable to provide more details, the Associated Press reports. 

While it’s unclear how many casualties there have been as a result of the fire, CalFire confirmed early Friday that three firefighters have been injured. 

On Friday, CalFire also confirmed that the fire had tripled in size overnight to more than 109 square miles and was just 5 percent contained. 

An estimated 2,000 buildings have already been destroyed by the fire, according to CalFire. If confirmed, that would make the Camp Fire the fourth most destructive fire in California’s recorded history. Another 15,000 remained threatened in the area, according to CalFire.

“The whole town’s on fire,” Paradise councilman Scott Lotter, who evacuated with his family, told the Sacramento Bee earlier Thursday. “It’s pretty grim.”

By Friday morning, the fire was encroaching on the nearby city of Chico, prompting new evacuations.

Capt. Scott McLean of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said flames from the blaze had reached the eastern side of Chico, a city of more than 90,000 residents.

The small communities of Stirling City and Inskip, north of Paradise, were also evacuated on Friday. 

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Officials confirmed to the AP that some Paradise residents who attempted to escape the fire in their vehicles Thursday were forced to flee on foot – some holding pets and even babies in their grasp – as the flames drew closer. With few options out of Paradise, roads quickly became gridlocked, and abandoned cars left in the middle of the road only made problems worse.

“It is pure chaos up here,” CHP public information officer Ryan Lambert told the Los Angeles Times.

Other towns being evacuated include Centerville and Butte Creek, northwest of Paradise. Evacuations were also ordered in the nearby hamlets of Pulga and Concow.

“It’s bad,” Honea told the Chico Enterprise-Record. “We’re trying to get as many people out as quickly as possible and save as many lives as we can.”

In Concow, some residents, like Colton Percifield, were forced to drive through the flames and thick smoke just to survive.

“The hardest part was there was no visibility … it was pitch black,” he told The Weather Channel in a phone interview Thursday night. He also said many of the homes in his neighborhood were destroyed by the fire, but he was able to safely escape.

Feather River Hospital, a retirement home and Ponderosa Elementary School in Paradise were evacuated, the Enterprise-Record also said, and Butte College was closed.

Patients in the Feather River Hospital were rescued Thursday afternoon as the roof of the emergency room went ablaze. 

The rapid growth of the fire took many residents by surprise. Shary Bernacett said she and her husband “knocked on doors, yelled and screamed” to alert as many of the residents of the mobile home park they manage in Paradise just minutes before the fire arrived, she told the AP.

“My husband tried his best to get everybody out. The whole hill’s on fire. God help us!” Bernacett, in tears, told the AP.

The Bernacetts managed to escape the fire with their dog but had to drive through 12-foot-high flames before reaching safety on Highway 99.

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At least 24,000 homes and businesses, or about half of all customers, remained without power Friday morning in Butte County, according to PowerOutage.us. Those who have safely fled the wildfire were asked to register on the American Red Cross’s Safe and Well page to let friends and family know they successfully evacuated.

Acting governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency for Butte County, which will make more resources available for emergency responders.

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Much of the Golden State had been warned about extreme fire danger because of the return of Santa Ana winds, but in Butte County, months of dry weather combined with the windy conditions created a recipe for disaster.

A pair of blazes also raging in Southern California have forced the evacuation of thousands, including the entire city of Malibu. Statewide, more than 157,000 have been forced to evacuate because of wildfires, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services said Friday. 

“Basically, we haven’t had rain since last May or before that,” Read told the AP. “Everything is a very receptive fuel bed. It’s a rapid rate of spread.”