OROVILLE, Calif. — The Thompson Fire continues to burn in Butte County and has forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes.
Mark Alvidrez, his wife and dog had minutes to leave their house off Kokanee Drive in Oroville. It’s their first time evacuating.
“It’s awful. It’s gut-wrenching. You don’t know what to expect. I don’t know whether I’m hungry or it’s just stress; I can’t tell,” he said.
He said getting the evacuation warning was a surreal moment.
"You could see the ash fall, then the smoke started coming in, the sun was being blurred out. That's when you see neighbors panicking and trying to get out. That's when it hit, this is real, we got to get out,” he said.
Alvidrez and dozens of others are standing by at the evacuation center at the Oroville Church of Nazarene.
Preston Englant is also at the evacuation center and he said he knows what the people there are going through. He survived the Camp Fire and felt a calling to help the evacuees.
"There's a lot of uncertainty, and that's the biggest thing, the uncertainty of if your house is still standing, uncertainty of where you're going to lay your head at night. If you have animals, uncertainty of when you're going to be able to feed and water your animals,” he said.
Others will return home to find nothing. At least two homes on Bessie Lane were reduced to rubble, and fire damage can be seen from the road on another.
As Alvidrez sits at the evacuation center with his wife and dog, all he wants is his home and his neighbor’s homes to still be there when they can return.
"I'm really impressed with my neighbors helping each other out, making sure they’re getting out, people taking turns leaving the intersection. (I’m) very impressed with my neighbors, the community, very impressed,” he said.
The evacuation center still has space for people who need a place to stay. Englant said he’s willing to help anyone who reaches out to him.
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