Fire in Paradise
@DeborahDiane (40042)
Laguna Woods, California
November 14, 2018 4:46pm CST
Paradise, California, a city of 27,000 in the foothills of the Sierra, Nevada mountains, was a beautiful community where people lived, retired and vacationed. It was surrounded by lovely places to hike, enjoy fresh air and feel at peace.
It was all those things until a few days ago when the entire town burned down in one night, destroying over 7,000 homes, as well as all of the businesses, malls, churches, hospitals, fire and police department facilities, roads, electrical grid, water department, etc.
Starting over will be devastating for these people, and the survivors are the lucky ones. At least four dozen people have died, and hundreds more are still missing. Many of the missing are in their 80s and 90s.
Not only have they lost their homes, they have lost their businesses, their jobs and their community.
Even those who want to rebuild will have to wait years until the damaged buildings are removed from the area, the roads are rebuilt, the electrical grid is reconstructed, the water and sewer lines are repaired, and other damaged parts of the infrastructure are dealt with.
After that, many people will have trouble finding a contractor in such a remote part of California who will be available to rebuild their homes.
Meanwhile, how long will it be before schools, churches, hospitals, shops, grocery stores, restaurants and other businesses return?
As the survivors relocate, they will face other problems. There is not very much housing available in that rural part of California. Before signing a lease or building a home somewhere else, people will want to be sure they have jobs. They may have to move hundreds of miles away to new cities, and they will need the money for rent deposits and other expenses.
In one night, this fire totally changed the lives of everyone in that town.
For those who are able and want to, I hope people will consider donating to the United Way, Red Cross or one of the other organizations helping people with their relocation expenses. These people will need all the help they can get. It is such a sad situation.
12 people like this
12 responses
@DeborahDiane (40042)
• Laguna Woods, California
14 Nov 18
@db20747 - It might have been avoided it the electric company had buried their power lines rather than had them hanging from poles. They believe that power lines sparking in the wind was the cause of the fire. We are pushing to get power lines buried near where I live, but so far the electric company has resisted. Perhaps the lawsuits from this catastrophe will change their mind.
2 people like this
@db20747 (43425)
• Washington, District Of Columbia
14 Nov 18
@DeborahDiane Good point!! Anything that could trigger a fire should be avoided!!!
2 people like this
@DeborahDiane (40042)
• Laguna Woods, California
15 Nov 18
@db20747 - I agree. Not all fires can be prevented, of course. Sometimes they are started by lightening. However, I believe that every step should be taken to avoid known dangers, such as electrical lines.
1 person likes this
@sallypup (57717)
• Centralia, Washington
16 Nov 18
@DeborahDiane We had our cabin's burning anniversary just last month. PTSD is very real.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40042)
• Laguna Woods, California
16 Nov 18
@sallypup - Yes, PTSD is very real. You cannot survive an experience like that without always being somewhat affected by it.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40042)
• Laguna Woods, California
15 Nov 18
@sallypup - I'm sorry to hear that your family has had heartache from a fire, too. I feel so sorry for the residents of this town. They said in the paper today that it could be years before the former residents may be able to start rebuilding.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (457295)
• Switzerland
15 Nov 18
I check the news every day, it is still unclear how the fire started, but it seems very possible that power equipment belonging to the electric utility PG&E may have sparked the fire. All our power lines are buried, but inside insulated material that cannot start fires and this from many years. Aerial equipment would have not solved the problem, a spark in the air can also start a fire and this already happened in the past. I have read that they waited three hours before calling the fire crew, this is neglicence.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (457295)
• Switzerland
16 Nov 18
@DeborahDiane There are already so many things that can cause a fire by accidents, they should at least try to do their best to avoid that sparks from the electrical system would start a fire.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (457295)
• Switzerland
17 Nov 18
@DeborahDiane I hope they will improve their system, because with the global warming the risk of fire will increase.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40042)
• Laguna Woods, California
17 Nov 18
@LadyDuck - I agree! We will still have fires, but we should avoid the ones which are avoidable. I hope they make some improvements to their system in the future.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40042)
• Laguna Woods, California
17 Nov 18
@JudyEv Many of them are just living in tents on a parking lot in a nearby town. They interviewed one of the families and asked the 9 year-old son how he was doing. He said, "I miss sleeping in a bed, with a ceiling above me." That made me so sad.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40042)
• Laguna Woods, California
15 Nov 18
@JudyEv - To make matters worse, I heard today that the Norovirus is now spreading through the shelters. It is sort of like a bad case of the flu. Those poor people. After losing everything, some of them are coming down with this virus, too. They must feel miserable.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325333)
• Rockingham, Australia
16 Nov 18
@DeborahDiane Those poor people. It must be awful.
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (129376)
• Israel
1 Jan 19
@DeborahDiane
I am so so sorry what happened to those people. That is horrible.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40042)
• Laguna Woods, California
2 Jan 19
@Hannihar - Yes, it has been horrible. My brother-in-law lives in another town about a one hour drive from where this happened, so some of the people have relocated to his town. I don't know if they will ever go back to the burned out town. It they do, they estimate it will be four or five years before it even starts to come together again. By then, people will have moved and found new jobs. It has been very hard on everyone in that town.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40042)
• Laguna Woods, California
5 Jan 19
@Hannihar - Yes, they have interviewed many of the people who lost everything, and it has been hard on them. Many of them were people like waitresses or laborers who rented and didn't have renters insurance, so they lost their homes, their belongings, their jobs and often their cars in a single night. There are burned out cars all along the roads, where the cars caught on fire and the people had to abandon them and run for safety. It must have been horrible that night, and some of these people will take years to recover financially and may never recover emotionally.
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (129376)
• Israel
3 Jan 19
@DeborahDiane
That is so so sad that in one night their lives get destroyed and have to start all over again. That is very hard.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40042)
• Laguna Woods, California
15 Nov 18
@nela13 - Yes, I am safe where I am, but I feel sorry for the people who have been hurt by these fires.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40042)
• Laguna Woods, California
18 Nov 18
@nela13 - Yes, their situation is awful. There are not enough places in the shelters. There are not enough hotel rooms or apartments to rent in the area. Over 10,000 homes were burned down, and they are having trouble finding housing for most of them. It is an terrible situation.
1 person likes this
@nela13 (55702)
• Portugal
18 Nov 18
@DeborahDiane i saw in the news that some families are living in tents in miserable conditions 
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40042)
• Laguna Woods, California
15 Nov 18
@amadeo - I am sure that the people appreciate all the help they can get. Bless you for donating to the Red Cross.
@wolfgirl569 (94747)
• Marion, Ohio
14 Nov 18
It is a sad one and it still is not over either. I hope other people in the path of the fire move out faster if needed.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29233)
• Eugene, Oregon
19 Nov 18
It is so awful. I am shocked at the devastation of a whole community and the loss of life.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29233)
• Eugene, Oregon
19 Nov 18
@DeborahDiane No kidding. I can't imagine the devastation and loss of life they are suffering in that Camp Fire and the one is southern California has been terrible too. We have had some smoke off and on here, yes, and some very red sunrises.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29233)
• Eugene, Oregon
20 Nov 18
@DeborahDiane Yes, I was thinking about that last week when I shot it.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40042)
• Laguna Woods, California
19 Nov 18
@JamesHxstatic - Has any of the smoke drifted up into Oregon? I know the air quality throughout California has been awful. I feel so sorry for those people. I cannot imagine losing not just my home, but my entire community, my job and everything else. Unimaginable.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40042)
• Laguna Woods, California
15 Nov 18
@DianneN - It seems that we have had a lot of spectacular, record-breaking disasters the past few years. I feel so bad for all the people who have been harmed by them.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40042)
• Laguna Woods, California
17 Nov 18
@DianneN - Yes, it is tragic. So far, they have found 71 bodies, and there are 1000 people who have been reported missing.
Many of the survivors are just living in tents on a parking lot in a nearby town. They interviewed one of the families and asked the 9 year-old son how he was doing. He said, "I miss sleeping in a bed, with a ceiling above me." That made me so sad. There are no apartments available. FEMA is supposed to bring in trailers "soon," but no one knows when. It is cold in that part of California, too. Now, they say that the people who have managed to snag a spot in a shelter have gotten the norovirus. Those people just don't seem to be able to catch a break.
1 person likes this
@DianneN (246334)
• United States
16 Nov 18
@DeborahDiane Those poor people. It's just tragic!
1 person likes this
@Morleyhunt (21737)
• Canada
15 Nov 18
Natural and man made disasters have had devastating effects on people's live. Jus this year parts of our province had massive flooding.....our population base is about half a million, so the numbers of those affected are much lower than the numbers affected by hurricane Michael that destroyed Panama City in Florida and the fires that destroyed Paradise, California.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40042)
• Laguna Woods, California
15 Nov 18
@Morleyhunt - Even when a large number of people are not affected, disasters still have a huge effect on the lives of the survivors. Flooding is something which could be even more serious in the future as sea levels rise, affecting inland waterways.
1 person likes this
@DeborahDiane (40042)
• Laguna Woods, California
15 Nov 18
@CarolDM - Yes, it is like their lives have just been turned upside down.
