Staggered evacuation efficiency questioned in fire’s aftermath
Plan devolves into panicked exodus as warnings missed
MAGALIA, Calif. — Ten years ago, as two wildfires advanced on Paradise, residents jumped into their vehicles to flee and got stuck in gridlock. That led authorities to devise a staggered evacuation plan — one that they used when fire came again last week.
But this time, Paradise’s carefully laid plans quickly devolved into a panicked exodus. Some survivors said that by the time they got warnings, the flames were already extremely close, and they barely escaped with their lives. Others said they received no warnings at all.
Now, with at least 56 people dead and perhaps 300 unaccounted for in the nation’s deadliest wildfire in a century, authorities are facing questions of whether they took the right approach.
It’s also a lesson for other communities across the West that could be threatened as climate change contributes to longer, more destructive fire seasons.
In the aftermath of the disaster, survivors said that authorities need to devise a plan to reach residents who can’t get a cell phone signal in the hilly terrain or don’t have cellphones at all.
In his defense, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said evacuation orders were issued through 5,227 emails, 25,643 phone calls and 5,445 texts, in addition to social media and the use of loudspeakers. As cellphone service went down, authorities went into neighborhoods with bullhorns to tell people to leave, and that saved some lives.
Honea said he was too busy with the emergency and the recovery of human remains to analyze how the evacuation went. But he said it was a big, chaotic, fast-moving situation, and there weren’t enough law enforcement officers to go out and warn everyone.
“The fact that we have thousands and thousands of people in shelters would clearly indicate that we were able to notify a significant number of people,” the sheriff said.
On Thursday, firefighters reported progress in battling the nearly 220-square-mile blaze. It was 40 percent contained, fire officials said, and crews managed to slow the flames’ advance on populated areas.
President Donald Trump plans to travel to California on Saturday to visit victims of the wildfires burning at both ends of the state.
At the other end of the state, meanwhile, crews continued to gain ground against a blaze of more than 153 square milesthat destroyed over 500 structures in Malibu and other Southern California communities. At least three deaths were reported.