PARADISE, Calif. — Nearly six years after the Camp Fire destroyed the town of Paradise, the Park Fire has triggered new evacuation warnings for the area.
Several miles of forest and dry vegetation separated the fire from the communities of Magalia and Paradise, which came under evacuation warnings Friday night.
When Paradise resident Elliott Prest saw the smoke plume growing in the distance, he felt disbelief that such a fire could happen again in the area.
“The PTSD is real,” Prest said.
His home was among those destroyed in the 2018 Camp Fire, which also killed 85 people.
Like many others, he decided to rebuild — but the memory of that fire is haunting.
As the fast-moving Park Fire continues to burn into new areas of Butte and Tehama Counties, crews are trying to prevent it from spreading east of Highway 32.
Cal Fire Captain Dan Collins said the fire is being held at Highway 32 so far.
“We have crews there today ensuring that it continues to hold, and they’re doing aggressive mop up around the structures,” Collins said.
He said there is a lot of “resiliency, and a lot of trauma,” throughout the county from all of the deadly and destructive wildfires of recent years.
Optimistic that his new home won’t be in the line of fire, Prest has been thinking about those who have evacuated from the newest blaze.
“I wouldn’t wish it on anybody, my worst enemy,” Prest said. “I wouldn’t wish what’s happening to those people who have lost their homes and are now displaced.”
