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The traffic continued as they made their way through Paradise. At times, they stalled in traffic as flames menaced and other motorists panicked and abandoned their vehicles to try to escape on foot. Propane tanks exploding around them added to the atmosphere of doom.
“It sounded like a war,” said Mrs. Selby, 80. “It was very scary, very intense.”
The evacuation was also complicated by the topography of the town. In the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, Paradise’s main connection to the outside world run along Skyway, a highway that runs along a ridge, making escape even more dangerous.
The police chief of Paradise, Eric Reinbold, who lost his home in the blaze, said the terrain and traffic flow played a role in a number of the deaths.
Four people were found dead in their cars in a neighborhood of Paradise with steep terrain.
“The particular area is out on a finger of a ridge, where there is a canyon on both sides,” said Chief Reinbold, 35. “It’s dense brush, dense trees, it’s one way in, one way out, so it’s very possible that the fire was just so intense that there was no way of avoiding that when trying to leave.”
The Butte County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday that they had brought in a truck where family members of those missing in the Camp Fire could provide DNA samples to identify the remains of those killed in the blaze.
On Sunday, Paradise was ringed with miles of scorched earth. Inside the town were the charred remains of gas stations, hair salons and tattoo parlors. The Paradise Inn was mostly debris, save for a sign, and one restaurant was recognizable only by the arrangement of metal-frame chairs left standing. Hundreds of abandoned cars filled parking lots and the sides of the road.
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