As in Milton’s epic, Paradise is lost. In its place is a burning plane. Smoke blots out daylight into a choking twilight for miles around. This is the so-called Camp Fire, which—while not even half contained—has claimed the record of California’s deadliest and most destructive fire.
The fire started on the morning of Thursday, Nov. 8 off Camp Creek Rd., east of the cities of Paradise and Chico, CA in Butte County. Driven by strong winds and exceptionally dry conditions, the fire spread rapidly to the southwest at terrifying speed. In some cases, the fire outpaced residents of Paradise who tried to flee the flames in their cars.
In the first 24 hours, the fire had consumed over 70,000 acres; a rate of over 2,900 acres per hour. After roughly 36 hours, the fire’s speed slacked to roughly 2,500 acres per hour with over 90,000 acres consumed.
Capt. Scott McLean of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) told members of the media on Friday, Nov. 9 that “there was really no firefight involved” during that first day of the fire. “These firefighters were in the rescue mode all day yesterday.”
Due largely to its speed, the Camp Fire has claimed the ignoble titles of both the deadliest and the most destructive fire in California’s history, even as the fire is ongoing. The fires that previously held those titles were the Griffith Park Fire of 1933 that claimed 29 lives, and the Tubbs Fire of 2017 that destroyed 5,636 structures, respectively.
By press time on Nov. 15, and according to CAL FIRE and InciWeb, over 140,000 acres had burned; containment stood at 40 percent; over 8,756 residences and 260 commercial buildings were known to have been destroyed; and known casualties stood at 56 civilian deaths and three first-responder injuries. Reports of at least 150 missing people circulated mainstream news media. The cause of the fire was still under investigation.
Ag impact and grazing
Though the human impact of the Camp Fire has been staggering, the impact on area ranchers has been relatively muted.
Butte County Brand Inspector Mark Blakeman was one of the only cattle-related officials WLJ was able to reach for comment as the crisis unfolded. Speaking to WLJ on the afternoon of Nov. 14, Blakeman said there weren’t many ranches in the Camp Fire area. Most of the ranch-related destruction he was aware of involved a few cattle deaths and the burning of some people’s winter range.
“There had been quite a few [cattle] that were moved, mostly small bunches, but no real big ranches,” he said. “And because it was so dry in this area, most people haven’t moved from their summer ground down to this ground yet, so it’s kind of a blessing there.”
Alex Hoon, senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service and incident meteorologist for the Camp Fire, explained to media and community members during a Nov. 9 press conference that extreme winds, gusting up to 40-50 miles per hour, pushed the fire from its origin point into the city of Paradise. Very dry conditions with humidity in the single digits helped feed the fire-friendly conditions.
Speaking at the same event, Battalion Chief Tim Chavez characterized the situation in Northern California before the fire as the perfect storm for massive, fast-moving fire.
“This fire is unique to be this late in Northern California,” he said.
“Normally, climatologically, we would expect to have had a sequence of storms delivering rainfall to the area by now. However, that rain has not come.”
The U.S. Drought Monitor published just before the fire started showed 48 percent of the state—including the effected Butte County—in the relatively minor “abnormally dry” condition. Though California has been plagued by drought in recent memory, the more recent past has been better.
“Last year was a very good year for feed and that’s a lot of the problem; we have a lot of tall, dry grass left over,” Blakeman explained.
“As far as that area, I would say it’s more the old ranches getting broken up and not being grazed anymore that are causing these fires, not so much the drought or the change in the weather or anything.”
He also referenced the flare up in the ongoing national argument over forest management and wildfires.
“It’s not that we don’t need to get our timber forests cleaned up, because they are an absolute mess, but what’s killing the people are the fires in these scrub oak and low-lying grass areas,” he said specifically of Northern California fires in recent years.
He added that urban encroachment has shut out grazing around the edges of towns, so the areas are “not getting grazed and they just go wild and the brush gets thicker and thicker.”
Resources for ranchers
As of press, the Butte County Fairgrounds in Gridley, CA, is the evacuation site for large animals in the area. Large animal rescue efforts and oversight are being conducted by the North Valley Animal Disaster Group (NVADG).
NVADG volunteers told WLJ on Nov. 14 that there was still ample room for horses and small livestock at the fairgrounds, but that there is no room for cattle. They added that several Gridley-area ranchers have offered acreage for temporarily housing cattle. More information can be found by calling the NVADG hotline at 530-895-0000.
Other resources to keep in mind following the fire are as follows:
• Livestock Indemnity Program—Can reimburse producers up to 75 percent of market value of livestock lost due to “adverse weather conditions,” including wildfire. Notify your local county Farm Service Administration (FSA) within 30 days of the loss if you intend to submit a claim.
• Emergency Conservation Program—Also administered by your local county FSA office, this program can help offset the cost of repairing range infrastructure lost in a natural disaster, including wildfire. Apply as soon as possible as funds are dispersed as they are available and requested. — Kerry Halladay, WLJ editor
