When King Harbor liveaboards Bob and Jody Lipkin moved to Berry Creek, they liked to joke that they almost made it to  Paradise.

Manhattan Beach firefighters at the Malibu Canyon Road tunnel, in a successful fight, to prevent the Woolsey fire from jumping into Topanga Canyon. Photo by Firefighter/Engineer James Stratton

 

It started with a robocall from the electrical company. They might cut off electric service due to the Red Flag warnings. Being a beach bum for over 40 years, I was not really clear as to what made up a Red Flag warning, but the local news explained it. A combination of low humidity, high winds and a lot of “fuel” made for perfect conditions for a firestorm.

During the 35 years, my wife Jody and I lived on a boat in King Harbor, forest fires never entered our minds.

Now we live in Berry Creek. We like to joke that we almost made it to Paradise. The town of Paradise is 10 miles away.

A few hours after the robocall I got a call from a neighbor down the road.

“Is that fire near you?” she asked.

“What fire” I replied, walking through my sliding glass door to the back porch.

My neighbor was about 10 miles south of me, on the other side of Lake Oroville.

“It looks like it’s right behind you,” she said. “It looks pretty big.”

I walked back through the house to the front door and looked to the north.

Nothing.

“Nope. Must not be near us,” I told her.

“Okay, but keep an eye out.  It looks threatening,” she warned.

Then the electricity was shut off.

“Damn,” I thought. No electricity, no internet. I couldn’t work.

I figured it was a good time to drive the 40 miles to Chico to stock up at Costco.

We have an emergency generator at our place, and as soon as the power went down it started up. It runs on propane. Our home sits on 40 acres high above Lake Oroville. The propane tank was at 60 percent, which meant it could run for three or four days, max. I shut off the generator to save fuel, letting the freezer and fridge rest for a couple of hours. I also get regular generator maintenance to ensure that the machine operates at optimum levels.

Jody had gone to visit her mother in Utah and the widow lady who lived in a small cabin on our property had gone to San Diego to visit friends, so I was alone, except for our cats Katy and Jessie.

As I drove down Highway 162 towards town I saw what my neighbor had called about. There was a giant smoke bloom coming off the mountains a few miles away.

I turned on the radio and heard that a half-acre fire had blown up to 10 acres.

Having lived in the area for a few years, I was used to fires. Every summer there would be one or two nearby. We kept our property cleared for over 100 feet all around the house, so I didn’t worry, much.

I drove through Oroville, about 20 miles south of the house, and then headed to Chico, another 20 miles. I figured I’d be back in about an hour.

After I passed Highway 149 and turned onto 99, about 8 miles outside of Chico, the traffic came to a standstill.

That was very odd. I had never seen traffic here before. Traffic was part of why I moved out of the L.A. area. I turned on WAZE to see if there was an alternative route.

There was, so I whipped a U-turn right there on the freeway, and made it to Costco in about 10 more minutes.

After buying what I thought we would need for the next few weeks, I paid the cashier and headed out the door.

But wait. I came in when it was morning, and all of a sudden it was twilight.

A pall of smoke had drifted over the city.

The smoke was blowing off the small fire I’d seen earlier.

I started back on the same route I’d come in on, but now the line of cars was miles long, all heading into Chico.

A bunch of Highway Patrol cars was directing traffic.

“Hey, what’s causing all this back up. Is there an accident?” I asked one of the officers.

“Paradise is on fire,” he replied.

As soon as I was back on-property I turned on the generator and, after quickly putting away the groceries, I went to my computer.

The small little 10-acre fire was being pushed through the Feather River Canyon at 60 miles per hour. In a matter of 10 minutes, it had grown to over 1,000 acres.

Paradise is serviced by three roads: Pence Road, Clark, and The Skyway.

Paradise is where we go to the DMV, or for hospital visits. It’s just 26,000 people.

They had less than a half-hour’s notice to evacuate. The Skyway, which is the main route to Chico, was backed up from where it hit 99 and all the way into town.

After leaving the South Bay, Bob and Jody Lipkin built their dream house in Berry Creek, 10 miles from Paradise. The Camp Fire came to within 1.5 miles of their home. Photo by Bob Lipkin

The fire engulfed the town while the traffic was at a stop. Hundreds of people abandoned their cars and were walking and running down The Skyway. Cars burned where they stood.

Four people were found burned to death in their cars. The first day the fire extended to 50,000 acres. Within three days the fire had grown to over 110,000 acres.

Berry Creek was evacuated on the third day. The fire started moving from the south, right towards us.

They say Berry Creek (though hardly a town — it has one stop sign, no stop lights, and one small convenience store that sells gas) has a population of 350. But we’ve only met 15 to 20 of them in the 10 years we’ve been here. Our square mile neighborhood has just five homes.  Consider that the City of Hermosa Beach is one square mile, and that will give you an idea of the population density.

The fire has been burning for five days at the time of this writing. The Camp Fire has burned over 135,000 acres, and they have found 56 people dead. Most of them still in their homes.

The fire raced toward the author’s home at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour. Google Earth/Drone photo

I am writing this in a friend’s home in Oroville. The fire is about 35 percent contained. But the untold story is what has gone on in Chico, Oroville and the other small neighboring towns. There are no big towns here, except Sacramento, and that is 60 miles south.

All of the churches opened their doors. Local stores donated food, clothing and whatever was needed. The people helped in ways you could not believe.

One morning we were having breakfast at a small café and started talking to the people next to us. They had evacuated Paradise, but could only find one of their cats. The other, they learned, had burned in the fire. The one they saved was 20 years old. After breakfast, they were going to the vet. The poor cat was so traumatized they were going to have to put it to sleep. They were a mother and son. She was 75, he was 53. Their home had burned to the ground. Paradise will rebuild, but the mother and son are moving to Four Corners, where there are no trees.

Our neighbor in Berry Creek, an 83-year-old woman whose husband died a few years back, and whom we consider family, had moved in with her new boyfriend, also in his 80s, in Paradise.  They had left the morning of the fire to go to the doctor in Chico. While they were gone his home burned to the ground.

So they came to her home in Berry Creek for three days, and then they were evacuated.

At dinner, we met another couple in their eighties. Their home burned to the ground, as well.

The fire made it to within 1.5 miles of our home. Other than some ruined food (the generator ran out of fuel about a day ago) and two very upset kitties, we escaped unscathed.

Paradise will rebuild, but the mother and son who lost their cats are moving to Four Corners, where there are no trees.

The towns of Magalia, Concow and a few others you have never heard of will rebuild, also. People who live in places like this are strong. Some of the people who helped the most were the people who, just a few months earlier, watched their homes burn in the Carr fire in Redding. They were taking in people who lost everything in this fire.

The point of this? The way the sheriff, Highway Patrol, local police and firefighters worked together. A high percentage of the homes lost in the fire belonged to them.

Instead of reading about mass murders, a crazed gunman and gang violence, what we have seen is humanity, coming together as a family. Every race, creed, and religion was affected, equally. Each was given comfort and a helping hand by their neighbors.

It was a beautiful thing to behold.

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