Introduction
The Camp Fire began around 6:00 AM on November 8, 2018, when a hook on a Pacific Gas & Electric transmission tower on Camp Creek Road broke and dropped a high-voltage wire. Despite extensive wildfire preparations, including vegetation removal and special provisions for evacuations, the town of Paradise in the Sierra Mountains was completely devastated by the fire, It had burned almost to the ground by noon that Thursday. At its peak, the Camp Fire was moving at a rate of 80 football fields per minute. Much of this fire growth was fueled by 'spotting', or embers from burning vegetation or buildings flying long distances and starting new, smaller fires. Evacuating civilians were impacted by seventeen separate burnovers where the fire suddenly overtook them as they were moving out of town. There were a total of 86 fatalities from the Camp Fire, the vast majority of which were from Paradise. The towns of Concow and Magalia also suffered significant losses. The fire burned over 150,000 acres, about two-thirds of which was covered in the first 48 hours, and 18,800 structures. The Camp Fire was contained on November 25th, having been active for over two weeks.
This fire prompted an investigation by Butte County's district attorney and his team into possible negligence by utility company PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric). In June 2020, the then CEO of PG&E pleaded guilty on behalf of the company to one felony count of unlawfully causing a fire, and 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter in relation to the Camp Fire. Victims of the Camp Fire would be eligible for funds from the Fire Victims Trust set up with PG&E funds under its bankruptcy agreement.
Resources
Paradise by Call Number: SD421.32.C2 .J64 2022ISBN: 9780593136409Publication Date: 2022-08-16"On November 8, 2018, the people of Paradise, California, awoke to a mottled gray sky and gusty winds. Soon the Camp Fire was upon them, gobbling an acre a second. Less than two hours after the fire ignited, the town was engulfed in flames, the residents trapped in their homes and cars. By the next morning, eighty-five people were dead. As a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, Lizzie Johnson was there as the town of Paradise burned. She saw the smoldering rubble of a historic covered bridge and the beloved Black Bear Diner and she stayed long afterward, visiting shelters, hotels, and makeshift camps. Drawing on years of on-the-ground reporting and reams of public records, including 911 calls and testimony from a grand jury investigation, Johnson provides a minute-by-minute account of the Camp Fire, following residents and first responders as they fight to save themselves and their town. We see a young mother fleeing with her newborn; a school bus full of children in search of an escape route; and a group of paramedics, patients, and nurses trapped in a cul-de-sac, fending off the fire with rakes and hoses. In Paradise, Johnson documents the unfolding tragedy with empathy and nuance. But she also investigates the root causes, from runaway climate change to a deeply flawed alert system to Pacific Gas and Electric's decades-long neglect of critical infrastructure." --publisher
Articles marked IN-PERSON are available at the IFSI Library's physical location, and clicking on the link will take you to the catalog record. Those marked ONLINE can be directly accessed by clicking on the link.
- ONLINE - International Journal of Wildland Fire - Burnover Events identified during the 2018 Camp FireThis study, based on first hand accounts, discusses how burnover and entrapment events impacted civilians as well as firefighters during the 2018 Camp Fire. Usually, entrapments and burnovers are primarily discussed in the context of firefighters, and the study claims that many of these events involving civilians go unreported.
- ONLINE - Natural Hazards - Wildfire impacts on education and healthcare: Paradise, California, after the Camp FireThis is a case study on how the Camp Fire impacted the schools and hospitals in Paradise, and how those institutions recovered.
- Frontline PBS - Camp Fire: By The NumbersAn approachable introduction to the Camp Fire via statistics such as number of calls to 911, the number of firefighters deployed, and the number of patients evacuated from a Paradise hospital. It also contains several interesting links such as PG&E's response to Frontline's questions and a news article on Feather River Hospital.
- CAL FIRE - Green Sheet: Burn InjuriesThis report discusses how two separate incidents during the Camp Fire resulted in 5 firefighters suffering severe burns: a burnover, and a propane tank explosion.
- ABC 10 - Camp Fire: One Year LaterThis is a shorter documentary report about the rebuilding efforts in Paradise, and a memorial to the victims who lost their lives.
- NIST - A Case Study of the Camp Fire - Fire Progression TimelineThis case study by the National Institute for Standards and Technology was conducted to answer research questions related to how the fire spread, why it was so devastating, and if Paradise was uniquely vulnerable. It gives a timeline of the fire, identifies factors that contributed to fire behavior, and discusses the methodologies of fire data collection and analysis.
- CAL FIRE - Camp FireThe CAL FIRE page for the Camp Fire lists the personnel and equipment assigned to the fire, the date started and contained, the damage done, and agencies involved.