PARADISE LOST
9 KILLED, TOWN OF 6,700 HOMES, BUSINESSES BURNT IN THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE BLAZE IN CALIFORNIA HISTORY
Firefighters in California yesterday battled raging blazes at both ends of the state that have left at least nine people dead and thousands of homes destroyed — but there was little hope of containing the flames anytime soon.
More than 250,000 people have been ordered to evacuate a wide area near the state capital Sacramento and, in southern California, the Hollywood resort town of Malibu.
So far, all nine fatalities were reported in the town of Paradise, in Butte County, where more than 6,700 buildings — most of them residences — have been consumed by the late-season inferno, which is now California’s most destructive fire on record.
President Donald Trump drew criticism online for his somewhat unsympathetic reaction to the devastation. “There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor,” Trump tweeted yesterday.
In southern California, more wildfires burned including one just north of Los Angeles and another in Ventura County near Thousand Oaks. Some 200,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders, including the entire city of Malibu.
The “Woolsey Fire” had consumed around 35,000 acres and was so far not contained, the Ventura County Fire Department said, adding that evacuation orders were issued for 88,000 homes in the county and neighbouring Los Angeles County.
Malibu is one of the most in-demand locations in California for stars seeking privacy and luxury. Reality TV star Kim Kardashian West, who lives just north of coastal Malibu, revealed she was forced to flee her home. Actor Martin Sheen, briefly reported missing by his son Charlie, was also forced to evacuate.
In Paradise, a town founded in the 1800s, the flames destroyed hundreds of homes, a hospital, gas station, several restaurants and numerous vehicles. Mandatory evacuation orders were issued to more than 52,000 people in the scenic area in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
The sign that greets visitors to this town in the Sierra Nevada foothills proudly states: “May you find Paradise to be all its name implies.”
But after a fast-moving wildfire ravaged this community of 27,000 people, forcing thousands to flee by car and on foot, Paradise has become something else entirely. It has joined the growing list of California towns and cities devastated by one of the worst fire seasons on record.
Officials said late on Friday that more than 6,700 structures were destroyed in the fire, a stunning level of destruction that will make this one of the most devastating in California history. At least nine people died.
On Friday, a day after the Camp fire broke out, this formerly thriving community sat under a dark canopy of ash and smoke.
Hundreds of homes and businesses had been levelled and reduced to piles of twisted metal. Tall pine trees and utility poles smouldered. According to the California Teachers Association, at least five of the nine schools in Paradise were destroyed, including Paradise Elementary School.
Cars abandoned by fleeing motorists who found themselves unable to escape lay crumpled in the roadways, their tires melted.
The bodies of five people were discovered on Edgewood Lane in vehicles overtaken by the fire. Butte County Sheriff Kory L. Honea said they could not immediately be identified because they were burnt so badly.
“There were people who weren’t able to get out,” Honea said, speaking from a makeshift command post at Butte College, which had been closed Thursday. As he talked, flakes of white ash fell on his uniform as strong winds continued to ■ sweep across the nearby burning ridges.
Authorities are recovering bodies “with as much dignity as we can afford them,” he said.
It could be weeks before officials determine the cause of the Camp fire, named because it began near Camp Creek Road in Butte County. On Friday, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. notified state regulators that one of its high-voltage power lines located ■ near where the fire began had malfunctioned shortly before the first flames were reported Thursday morning.
Fuelled by strong northeast winds and a parched landscape, the fire grew to 28,000 hectares by midday Friday.
It forced tens of thousands of people in Paradise and surrounding towns to evacuate. Many of them spilt onto a fourlane road called Skyway — the main evacuation route out of Paradise — that quickly became jammed. Residents described sitting in traffic as flames on both sides of the road reached for their cars.
Faced with worsening gridlock, fire officials said they made a crucial decision to focus their energy on rescuing people stranded on the road, unable to move, rather than try to beat back the growing inferno.
By Friday afternoon, it was only 5 per cent contained.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said that a few thousand firefighters had been dispatched to battle the blaze. At least three had been injured.
Parts of Paradise were still burning Friday afternoon as law enforcement authorities and utility company workers began to survey the damage. Honea said conditions were too “unstable” for sheriff’s deputies to go door-to-door looking for survivors.
Paradise Vice Mayor Greg Bolin said that early reports from fire officials suggested that 80 per cent to 90 per cent of the town had burnt. Bolin, who lost his home, said: “The town is gone.”