Checking in

[Gnarwhal]

UPDATE 11/14, Noon: The fire is still burning, 48 have been confirmed dead so far, over 6,500 homes have been destroyed and 130,000 acres have burned with about 30% of the fire contained.

We have between 30- and 50,000 displaced evacuees where I live. Everywhere you go there are evacuation centers, FEMA, or Red Cross. Near my house there are about a half dozen insurance companies setup to help the evacuees file home owner clams.

Nothing's been confirmed yet since the investigation obviously won't be finished for a while, but many/most suspect PG&E is at fault for the cause of the fire. A power line in the vicinity of the fire was said to have been sparking. We haven't had any meaningful rainfall in over 200 days, so we're seeing record-levels of dryness in the fuels. The whole region was primed for a voracious wildfire, and that's what we got: the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in state history.

My mom and sister spent time at my parent's presbyterian church yesterday sorting donations to be distributed to the different evacuation centers.

I've worked 60+ hours over the last 5-6 days while my station covers the fire 24/7. We finally exited our "wall to wall" coverage at midnight last night.

I had a moment on day five where the emotions of everything that had happened until that point kind of peaked, mixed with sheer exhaustion, and I just had to step outside and collect myself for a bit. Between the perpetual onslaught of information, tragic stories, technical difficulties, stressed coworkers, and my own evacuation experience, it all just adds up.

Six of my coworkers lost everything, most of them have some place to go but I think at least 1-2 of them are actually being sheltered in an unused space at my workplace.

What a day it has been.

———

UPDATE 11/9 10am: crews overnight established a back burn and have kept the fire from breaching the city limits. I’ve heard from one source that mandatory evacuations will be lifted at 11am local time.

Thanks for your prayers everybody. We’re not out of the woods yet, but we’re hopeful that our house is still standing and that looters haven’t touched it.

Please continue to pray for the firefighting efforts, and for those who have lost their homes and/or loved ones. The town of Paradise is lost. It’s all gone. And I’m hearing terrible stories of many bodies found up there, but no official count yet.

———

I don’t know if anyone’s heard, but a massive fire broke out in my county at 6:30am on Thursday (11/8). It is/was growing at a rate of about 80 acres per minute. At last check it was at about 20,000 acres with no containment.

One whole town is gone, and we had to evacuate my childhood home, where my parents and I were still living, we’ve lived there since it was built 27 years ago.

At this point I don’t know what the status of our home is, but we’re all okay. We’re packed into my sister and her husbands little two bedroom apartment.

I spent 10 hours at work while we covered the fire - we’ve been doing continuous coverage since about 10am, and I have to be back at noon tomorrow for another shift.

Please pray that the conditions shift and favor the firefighters, and that the fire doesn’t breech the city limits. We already have 27,000+ displaced from Paradise, hopefully we don’t get many more.

This is how things looked when I left for work around 1pm Thursday:

Thanks all.

 

[Tom 1]

I don’t know if anyone’s heard, but a massive fire broke out in my county at 6:30am on Thursday (11/8). It is/was growing at a rate of about 80 acres per minute. At last check it was at about 20,000 acres with no containment.

One whole town is gone, and we had to evacuate my childhood home, where my parents and I were still living, we’ve lived there since it was built 27 years ago.

At this point I don’t know what the status of our home is, but we’re all okay. We’re packed into my sister and her husbands little two bedroom apartment.

I spent 10 hours at work while we covered the fire - we’ve been doing continuous coverage since about 10am, and I have to be back at noon tomorrow for another shift.

Please pray that the conditions shift and favor the firefighters, and that the fire doesn’t breech the city limits. We already have 27,000+ displaced from Paradise, hopefully we don’t get many more.

This is how things looked when I left for work around 1pm Thursday:

Thanks all.

Intense

 

[musicalpilgrim]

I don’t know if anyone’s heard, but a massive fire broke out in my county at 6:30am on Thursday (11/8). It is/was growing at a rate of about 80 acres per minute. At last check it was at about 20,000 acres with no containment.

One whole town is gone, and we had to evacuate my childhood home, where my parents and I were still living, we’ve lived there since it was built 27 years ago.

At this point I don’t know what the status of our home is, but we’re all okay. We’re packed into my sister and her husbands little two bedroom apartment.

I spent 10 hours at work while we covered the fire - we’ve been doing continuous coverage since about 10am, and I have to be back at noon tomorrow for another shift.

Please pray that the conditions shift and favor the firefighters, and that the fire doesn’t breech the city limits. We already have 27,000+ displaced from Paradise, hopefully we don’t get many more.

This is how things looked when I left for work around 1pm Thursday:

Thanks all.

I pray for the fire to be extinguished in Jesus name. I pray for you and your family for the Lord to provide for you, may the Lord bless you all.

 

[Anhelyna]

Stay safe

 

[nChrist]

I've been praying for people involved with this fire. Please share if you have any updates.

 

[Michie]

Prayers for you and your family Fenwick. Prayers for all affected by this. Lord have mercy!

 

[Gnarwhal]

Thanks everyone.

I posted an update at the top of the OP.

 

[Michie]

Continued prayers!

 

[nChrist]

I just heard on the news that there are 5 confirmed deaths in these fires. This makes me very sad, especially considering that there are probably many more that they haven't found yet. These people and their families are in my prayers.

 

[StevenMerten]

We will pray for you and all suffering from this fire.
Steven

 

[musicalpilgrim]

I pray earnestly Father for the fires to be extinguished, save the people from their suffering in Jesus name Amen

 

[Gnarwhal]

Update in OP.

 

[Michie]

Just read it. I have been praying and thinking about all of you daily. Absolute tragedy. It is difficult to even look at the coverage on television. Try to take a breather if possible and restore yourself. Continued prayers for all.

 

[nChrist]

Update in OP.

Thank you for keeping us updated. The people effected by the fires are in our prayers. Our prayers obviously include the first responder, the animals, and the structures. We know that many people lost everything.