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She added: “I just have to keep going, that’s all I could think. I just have to keep driving because if I don’t, no one is going to come in here and save me.”
Erin McLaughlin and her 81-year-old neighbor, Elisabeth Mesones, left their homes in Magalia, north of Paradise, on Thursday morning. But after just a few minutes along a road known as Skyway, they hit gridlock traffic. The sky was darkening, smoke was thickening and they could see small fires breaking out around them. But they could not move.
Trapped in traffic outside of Paradise, Ms. McLaughlin, 58, watched several other motorists commandeer a Pepsi truck to use as a shelter, which they later decided against. Conditions worsened, and they heard propane tanks exploding on all sides.
“The next thing we get told is, ‘Get out of your vehicle and run,’” Ms. McLaughlin said.
About 75 motorists hurried to the parking lot of a nearby Chinese restaurant. For the next six hours, they camped out there.
“Everything was on fire all around you,” she said. “It was the most scary thing I’ve ever seen.”
The fire never reached them before they were able to escape. But a tour of Paradise on Sunday revealed that the fire eventually did arrive. The restaurant had burned down.
The evacuations resulted in moments of heroism, too.
Mr. Pierce, the registered nurse, did not end up leaving Paradise right after his truck was freed. He instead returned to the main hospital, Adventist Health Feather River, where he manages the intensive care unit. He and some colleagues began treating injured neighbors. When the hospital caught fire, they moved patients and equipment about 100 yards away, to the hospital’s helipad. Eventually, everyone made it out.
But now, even in safety with his family, Mr. Pierce said his near-death experience will stay with him. “It’s completely traumatic,” he said. “When I close my eyes at night, I see fire.”
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