Start date
November 8, 2018 at 6:30 AM.
End Date
November 25, 2018.
How long it lasted
17 days.
Location
The fire occurred in Butte County, Calif., but smoke from the wildfire spread all across Northern California and caused unhealthy and even dangerous conditions in areas close to Butte County.
Acres burned
153,336 acres (roughly the size of Chicago). Though much of the land itself was forest, the entire town of Paradise was destroyed as the wildfire swept through.
Buildings destroyed
18,804. Almost 14,000 were residences with 30,000 people losing their homes.
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Cost
The total damage was estimated to be $16.5 billion in January 2019. An estimated one-quarter of the damage, $4 billion, was not insured.
Cause
Electrical Fire Transmission by PG&E. The line was nearly 100 years old. The utility company estimated the average age of its transmission towers to be 68 years old, though some were as old as 108 years. The mean life expectancy of transmission towers is 65 years.
Drought was also a contributing factor, as brush and dry conditions caused the fire to spread unusually quickly.
People killed
85
People missing
1
One year later
The week of Nov. 4, the town of Paradise will have several events to commemorate one year since the Camp Fire, including a memorial and Parade of Flags. The Butte County Sheriff’s Office is also debuting new badges that will commemorate the tragedy.The badges feature a depiction of the historic 1887 Honey Run Covered Bridge, which was destroyed in the fire.
Displaced survivors
As of May 2019, there are still more than 1,000 families looking for housing in the wake of the Camp Fire. Even temporary housing has been a challenge to secure, leaving these survivors homeless.
Cost of living
Median home prices in Butte County are now at $318,000. In October of 2018, they were at $275,000.
Funding for survivors and recovery efforts
When the Camp Fire first erupted, donations poured in to help the survivors of the fire and the recovery efforts. More than 22,000 donors have donated through the Wildfire Relief Fund.
To date, the fund has given $17.2 million to organizations providing basic needs support for families who lost their homes, offering financial assistance to those whose jobs or businesses were destroyed or disrupted, purchasing vital equipment for first responders and enabling rescue services and veterinary care for animals displaced by the Camp, Hill and Woolsey Fires.
Read more of ABC10's coverage of the Camp Fire here.
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