It’s been nearly a week since a massive wildfire broke out in Northern California, wreaking havoc on the once picturesque town of Paradise. Now, survivors of the blaze — dubbed the Camp Fire — are left to pick up the pieces in the town reduced to rubble.
“We’ve lost it all,” Paradise resident Cinda Larimer, 53, toldUSA Today. “My mother, she evacuated only took two outfits. Why? … We all thought we’d be going home today.”
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Mary Etter, 54, toldUSA Todaythat she does not know whether she’ll ever return to the ravaged town, but she’s thankful to have survived.
“I’m happy to be here, happy to be here and alive,” Etter told the publication. “The material things, we can replace those. They’ll be replaced. You can’t replace your life or your friends.”
The Camp Fire has been called the deadliest blaze in the state’s history. According toNPR, the deadliest fire to strike the state in the past was 1933’s Griffith Park blaze, which killed 29 people in Los Angeles. The Camp Fire has destroyed more than 7,500 homes.
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Doreen Zimmerman lost her home of 29 years in the blaze, telling theSacramento Beethat she doesn’t know if she and her husband will ever return to Paradise.
“Will I be able to sleep if I live there? I don’t know,” she said. “Paradise was such a way of life, and it is just gone.”
Miles away, the Woolsey Fire continued to burn outside Los Angeles, claiming two lives and spreading across more than 97,000 acres, according to CalFire. By Tuesday, the Hill Fire — burning in Ventura County — had spread across more than 4,500 acres but was 92 percent contained, according to CalFire.
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On Wednesday, firefighters in Southern California were battling a new blaze that sparked overnight: the Sierra Fire.
The Sierra Fire broke out in Fontana, about 50 miles from downtown Los Angeles, and has burned through nearly 150 acres, according toNBC News. Fortunately, firefighters were able to gain some control over the blaze. Although no evacuations have been ordered due to the Sierra Fire, people rushed to flee their homes, backing up traffic in the area, according to theLos Angeles Times.
To help victims of the California wildfires, visit theLos Angeles Fire Department Foundation, theCalifornia Fire Foundationand theAmerican Red Cross, for more information.
source: people.com
