2018 CAMP FIRE — CALIFORNIA

2018

ECOCIDE
noun
destruction of the natural environment,
especially when deliberate.

2018 CAMP FIRE

(Directed-Energy Warfare)

Camp Fire (2018)

(Paradise Aftermath)

Note: Only houses destroyed, trees untouched by “fire”.

The Official Story

CAMP FIRE (2018)
(Butte County, California)

The Camp Fire was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history, and the most expensive natural disaster in the world in 2018 in terms of insured losses.

Named after Camp Creek Road, its place of origin, the fire started on Thursday, November 8, 2018, in Northern California’s Butte County. Ignited by a faulty electric transmission line, the fire originated above several communities and an east wind drove the fire downhill through developed areas. After exhibiting extreme fire spread, fireline intensity, and spotting behaviors through the rural community of Concow, an urban firestorm formed in the foothill town of Paradise. Drought was a factor: Paradise, which typically sees five inches of autumn rain by November 12, had only received one-seventh of an inch by that date in 2018. With the arrival of the first winter rainstorm of the season, the fire reached 100 percent containment after seventeen days on November 25.

The Camp Fire caused 85 civilian fatalities, with one person still missing as of August 2, 2019, and injured 12 civilians and five firefighters. It covered an area of 153,336 acres (620.5 km²; 239.6 sq mi), and destroyed more than 18,000 structures, with most of the destruction occurring within the first four hours. The towns of Paradise and Concow were almost completely destroyed, each losing about 95% of their structures. The towns of Magalia and Butte Creek Canyon were also largely destroyed. By January 2019, the total damage was estimated at $16.5 billion; one-quarter of the damage, $4 billion, was not insured. The Camp Fire also cost over $150 million in fire suppression costs, bringing the total cost of the fire to $16.65 billion.

The same month, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), the utility company responsible for the faulty power line, filed for bankruptcy, citing expected wildfire liabilities of $30 billion. On December 6, 2019, the utility made a settlement offer of $13.5 billion for the wildfire victims; the offer covered several devastating fires caused by the utility, including the Camp Fire. On June 16, 2020, the utility pleaded guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter.

The Camp Fire was the deadliest wildfire in the United States since the Cloquet fire in 1918 until it was surpassed by the Lāhainā fire’s 115 fatalities in 2023. It is also the fourteenth-deadliest wildfire in the world and the seventh-deadliest U.S. wildfire overall.

Impact

Fatalities and injuries

There were a large number of fatalities in the first several hours of the fire, but they were not found quickly. Discovery of these early fatalities took place over the course of the following two weeks. In the first week, nearly ten victims per day were found. In the second week, that lowered to several victims per day. Victims were still being found in the third week and beyond.

November 10, fourteen bodies were discovered, bringing casualties to 23.

November 11, casualties increased to 29 after another six bodies discovered.

November 13, casualties increased to 48, making it the single-deadliest wildfire in California history, surpassing the 1933 Griffith Park Fire, which killed 29 people.

November 14, casualties increased from 48 to 56.

November 16, casualties increased from 63 to 71.

November 17, An additional five deaths brought the total to 76. President Donald Trump, Governor Jerry Brown, Governor-elect Gavin Newsom, and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director Brock Long toured the Paradise area, and they held a short conference in the afternoon.

November 18, casualties raised to 77.

November 19, casualties raised to 79.

November 20, casualties raised to 81.

November 21, casualties raised to 83.

November 23, casualties raised to 87.

December 3, casualties revised to 85 after human remains in three separate bags were identified to be the same victim.

Identification of the deceased was hampered by the fragmentary condition of many bodies. Ten of 18 dentists in Paradise lost their offices and patient records in the fire. Two of the dead were identified from the serial numbers on artificial joints, 15 from dental records, five from fingerprints and 50 from DNA. Funerals and benefits were delayed by the identification difficulties. As of 2022, a few victims are still unidentified and are undergoing testing and identification by the DNA Doe Project.

Traffic jams on the few evacuation routes led to cars being abandoned while people evacuated on foot, but did not contribute to any deaths. At least seven deaths occurred when the fire overtook people who were trapped in their vehicles, most on Edgewood Road, as well as one person outside a vehicle and two on ATVs. Some residents who were unable to evacuate survived by sheltering in place at the American gas station and the Nearly New antique store across the street. Others gathered in the nearby parking lot shared by a KMart and a Save Mart. The survival of some of those who sheltered in place has raised the question of whether in some scenarios last-minute mass evacuations provide the best outcomes, with some pointing to Australia’s policy discouraging them, instituted following the 1983 Ash Wednesday brushfires in which many of the 75 dead were killed while trying to evacuate. However, 70 of the 84 fatalities listed in the Butte County District Attorney’s Camp Fire investigation summary occurred inside or immediately outside the victim’s residences, indicating that failure to evacuate contributed to many more deaths (70) than occurred while evacuating (8).

Many seniors were evacuated by passersby and neighbors, with at least one account of dozens of evacuees jumping into a reservoir to escape the flames.

Butte County Sheriff’s Department initially reported a partial death count for each community (total 67): 50 in Paradise, 7 in Concow, 9 in Magalia, and 1 in Chico.

Source: Wikipedia

2018 Camp Fire Statistics

Dates(s):	November 8–25, 2018
Burned Area:	153,336 acres, 240 square miles, 621 square kilometres, 62,053 hectares
Cost:	$16.65 billion (2018 USD) (Costliest worldwide)
Cause:	Electrical transmission fire from a PG&E power line
Buildings Destroyed:	18,804
Deaths:	85
Non-fatal Injuries:	17
Missing People:	1
Evacuated:	52,000 people