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 Community Village Sign)

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.

Structural damage and displacement

The fire forced the evacuation of Paradise, Magalia, Centerville, Concow, Pulga, Butte Creek Canyon, Berry Creek and Yankee Hill and threatened the communities of Butte Valley, Chico, Forest Ranch, Helltown, Inskip, Oroville, and Stirling City.

The community of Concow and the town of Paradise were destroyed within the first six hours of the fire, losing an estimated 95 percent of their buildings. The town of Magalia also suffered substantial damage, and the community of Pulga, California suffered some. Nearly 19,000 buildings were destroyed, most of them homes, along with five public schools in Paradise, a rest home, churches, part of Feather River hospital, a Christmas tree farm, a large shopping center anchored by a Safeway, several fast food chains, such as Black Bear Diner and McDonald’s, and numerous small businesses, as well. The Honey Run Covered Bridge over nearby Butte Creek, the last three- span Pratt-style truss bridge in the United States, was incinerated on November 10.

In May 2019, NPR reported that more than 1,000 families who were displaced by the fire were still looking for housing six months later. Rural northern California had been experiencing a severe housing shortage and growing homelessness crisis, compounded in part due to the fire. Prior to the fire, Chico had a housing vacancy rate of less than 3 percent. The loss of several thousand residences placed additional strain on Butte County’s housing market. Average list prices for homes were reported to have increased by more than 10 percent.

Summary of structural damage reported by Cal Fire:

Estimates of Damaged and Destroyed Structures

Structure Type	Damaged	Destroyed	Total by Type
Single Family Residential	~465	~9,879	10,344
Multiple Family Residential*	~22	~276	298
Mobile home Residential*	~6	~3,695	3,701
Mixed Commercial /Residential*	~0	~11	11
Commercial	~105	~514	619
Other	~77	~4,286	4,363
Total	675	18,661	19,336

Note: Cal Fire damage updates do not contain categories tagged with *,
however, a count was given November 17; also, ‘~’ denotes an estimate.

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