The flames have long since died down, but Fiona Roberts, a high school senior, remains haunted by the memory of being trapped with her mother in a slow-motion race for their lives on the morning of Nov. 8, the day the Camp Fire swallowed Paradise.
Driving from their home in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the left-hand side of the road, they gasped at the pop of backyard propane tanks exploding and the sight of embers the size of butterflies swirling in the air. Their fear held its tightest grip as they drove through a wall of flames on Skyway Road, which leads out of town.
“When we got to Skyway it really was on fire and the flames were hitting our car,” Fiona said. “We were in it for about 5-10 minutes and our car got up to about 160 degrees. About half-way through, when it got light, my mom and I just started cheering — like we cheated death. I’d never celebrated being alive before.”
[For more on this story by DAVID WASHBURN, go to https://edsource.org/2019/trau...ss-after-fire/607216]
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