Paradise Camp Fire Recovery

My family and I survived the Camp Fire in Paradise, CA. The morning of Nov. 8th is a day that changed our lives forever. The memories of that day is etched in our memories with disbelief and great sadness. Around 7:15am I awoke to a deep orange color sky with ash falling like snow. The heavy smoke turned morning into midnight. My sister, Jenny, lived in a downstairs apartment, with her family. We gathered outside and determined there was a fire somewhere.  There was nothing on the news.  Our apt manager was on her cell phone told us a big fire started at Concow (near Oroville), she went on to say it had reached Pentz Road. That is really close to our apartment.  I told Jenny and Nikki (daughter-in-law), we gotta go! We basically evacuated ourselves! (My son, Frank, was out of town and didn't get a chance to save any of his things.) Nikki got my 2-month old granddaughter ready, packed her necessities, grabbed a few things for Frank and started to pack the car. I packed a small bag, grabbed pictures off the wall, a cradle board, a couple of my mom's baskets, meds, electronics and readied ourselves for the drive out. The traffic on Clark Road was already in gridlock. Drivers were panicked, driving wildly! My sister and her family were in her son's car (which had a bad tire) and headed down the Skyway. They were diverted to Neal Road.  The traffic had come to a stop. With fire approaching on both sides of the road and behind them, they were prepared to get out and run!  Thankfully, two CHPs saved everyone by driving on the hillside blaring orders for drivers to move to the right. They found the bottleneck, cleared it and got traffic moving again.  Nikki, the baby and I headed down Clark toward Butte College. We were terrified because there was fire in both sides of the road too.  We could see the fire coming, the hills were ablaze and the strong winds sent embers all over the road starting fires on both side of the road.  In that little time it took us to pack & leave, the fire was already nearing the Safeway shopping center next to our apt. It took us 4 hours to get to Oroville, normally a 30 min drive. My niece, Jennifer,  also had an apt in our complex. She was at work in Chico at the time and could not come back to Paradise as the CHP closed incoming traffic. She wasn't able to save a thing either.  We met up at my daughter's in Chico where we still are.  My sister and I both really thought the fire would be stopped before it got to Clark Road as it was a main business area. (Later we realized  that was an impossibility given the circumstances .) We honestly thought we would return to our homes. Later, on the local news we saw our apartment fully engulfed in flames. It was heartbreaking. The feeling of loss and displacement is suffocating at times. Here it is 18 days later and I still feel like I'm just visiting Kelly and I must go home soon.  I just want go home. We've gone through all the disaster relief services, visited the donation centers,  now all we need is a new lodge, apartment,  house....anything. My son, Frank, Nikki, baby Bella and I are hopeful and ready to let go of our destroyed old home and start making a new home here in Chico.  We are the fortunate ones to have escaped the Camp Fire, many poor souls did not.  Grandfather was watching over us that day. Blessings to our fellow Camp Fire survivors. 

On behalf of my family, we sincerely appreciate any help on our road to disaster recovery.   Thank you all!