Yesterday my curiosity piqued, so my wife and I took a drive and went up to Paradise and Magalia for the first time since the Camp Fire. It's truly devastating folks. At the same time it was fascinating; fascinating in the presentation of what burned and what didn't. We saw a house on Clark Road, absolutely untouched; the owner was living in it again. But all around it on every side stood nothing but chimneys. Why???
The number of burnt cars and trucks is enormous! Their shells litter the landscape. Many were older, "collector" cars. Most are less than a decade old.
There were many signs of "We Will Rebuild," and other signs of hope. But it's going to take years. The people up there can still use much prayer and support.
I didnlt want to glorify people's pain, so I did not snap a bunch of pictures. The ones I did take are below. I stopped at the location of one of my favorite Restaurant chains, "Black Bear Diner." It is now gone. They were going to move the bear to Mt. Shasta City, the location of the original Black Bear, but the people if Paradise asked them not to. You can see it standing.
If you look at the pics you will see what I mean about the strangeness of fire: some places were fully engulfed, others untouched.
The location of the Black Bear Restaurant.
Look behind this pic - you will see a storage lot - untouched!
Across the street from the Bear - devastation. This used to be a gun and ammo store.
Looking up and to the north, most things appear normal.
Yet down and to the south, destruction. On the other side of that traffic light was one of the Paradise Schools that was hit very hard. That's my wife in our '09 Sebring.
The number of burnt cars and trucks is enormous! Their shells litter the landscape. Many were older, "collector" cars. Most are less than a decade old.
There were many signs of "We Will Rebuild," and other signs of hope. But it's going to take years. The people up there can still use much prayer and support.
I didnlt want to glorify people's pain, so I did not snap a bunch of pictures. The ones I did take are below. I stopped at the location of one of my favorite Restaurant chains, "Black Bear Diner." It is now gone. They were going to move the bear to Mt. Shasta City, the location of the original Black Bear, but the people if Paradise asked them not to. You can see it standing.
If you look at the pics you will see what I mean about the strangeness of fire: some places were fully engulfed, others untouched.
The location of the Black Bear Restaurant.
Look behind this pic - you will see a storage lot - untouched!
