Escaping the Camp Fire

Jon Mooallem (photographs by Katy Grannan) wrote a long article in the August 4 2019 New York Times Magazine on escaping from the Camp Fire that burned in Paradise California in the fall of 2018. The Camp Fire burned over 150,00 acres and killed at least 84 people. As for structures, over 13,500 single-family residences, over 280 multiple-family residences and over 510 commercial buildings were destroyed.

I subscribe to the New York Times, so I read both the print version and the digital version. The only difference is that the digital version has some videos, I’ll get to those in a moment. The New York Times has a paywall but you do get a few free views each month.

In this essay (that I link to at the end of this article, you will follow Tamara Fisher as she gets out of Paradise California the day the fire started. To say that her escape is harrowing, is an understatement. She drives a short distance before the traffic stops, and as she sits there the fire gets worse. As she is sitting in traffic not going anywhere the car starts to burn up so she abandons her car. She is terrified, fearing for her life. You will meet Larry Laczko, a contractor who was also trying to drive out of Paradise that morning. Larry sees Tamara get out of her car as her car is starting to burn and tells her to get in his truck. Larry and Tamaras finally do get out of Paradise but it is harrowing. There is Joe Kennedy, driver of a bulldozer who finds himself at the Camp Fire helping to clear the way for folk to escape. And there are others.

The essay is very intense, Tamara’s videos are graphic and very intense. I can see that this might upset some of you for a variety of reasons. And if you are one of those, perhaps you want to stop here and move on.

I spent a few days thinking about whether or not to share this article with you because of the intense and graphic nature of the the essay. It is also a long article. I am still a little hesitant. But I post the link to this article because I think it is an important story. Perhaps not so much for those who have lived through the Camp Fire whether you be residents of Paradise and environs or firefighters. From my seat through Moopalien’s writing, the videos and Grannan’s photos, I experienced the exodus from Paradise in a way that is not otherwise possible. For that reason, I am sharing this article with you, go here to read We Have Fire Everywhere: Escaping California’s Deadliest Blaze. Kudos to Jon Mooallem for his great reporting and Katy Grannan for her stunning photographs.