Imagine losing your safe haven and cherished memories in the blink of an eye. That is exactly what happened to Victoria Lombard, 32, a Lincoln resident and survivor of the 2018 Camp Fire. This blaze that ravaged Butte County remains the deadliest fire in California history. “I thought I was going to die,” she told me. I spoke to Victoria to learn more about her escape and its impact. What I discovered was shocking, to say the least.
Paradise was a beautiful mountainous Sierra landscape, brimming with pine cones. Victoria resided in Paradise for 18 months and worked twenty minutes away in the flatter area of Chico. A typical day for her involved getting up, tidying her house and heading to work. When she returned, she would make dinner and relax in her backyard. Where she lived was accessible. The grocery store was right down the street and there was never any traffic. This would all change soon.
The Day Everything Changed
Victoria woke up on the morning of Nov. 8, 2018 to get ready for work. It was darker than it should’ve been so she texted her coworker to ask about the weather in Chico. He said it was normal there. Still concerned, she decided not to let her cat Moomi outside. Then her cousin, who had recently graduated from the Butte College Fire Academy, called her at 7 a.m. to inform her there was a huge fire. When 8 a.m. rolled around, embers began falling from the pitch black sky. The wind mimicked the sound of a freight train.
Firefighters on the street instructed the neighborhood to evacuate over a loudspeaker, and she had only 45 minutes to pack her belongings. Fearing a big mess to clean up, Victoria avoided tearing the house up. She was in denial of what was unfolding and treated it like a false alarm. All she ended up taking with her was Moomi, her ornamental rug, family artwork, a toothbrush, clothes, and basic toiletries.
Escape Through Fire
Getting out of town was a challenging and terrifying endeavor. Victoria described it as a nightmare she couldn’t wake up from. Everyone was attempting to leave at once, and roads that were typically easy to navigate were gridlocked with traffic. She found herself on the Skyway, a two-lane road. It was consumed by fire that stood twenty feet over the erratically driving cars.
Moomi, who had been meowing, fell silent and crawled into her lap. Cops and firefighters attempted to direct traffic to no avail. She witnessed a hospital engulfed in flames, along with explosions from propane tanks, burning cars, and vehicle collisions. The heat was extreme, and she had to drive over live powerlines. Additionally, the cell phone towers fell.
Fearing for her life, she called her dad to say goodbye before she lost service. In what she described as divine intervention, a man advised her to follow him down an access road past a school which enabled her to bypass the halted traffic. It took her three hours to finally emerge in Chico, where the blue sky stood in sharp contrast to the black smoke and flames in her rearview mirror.
Aftermath
In the aftermath, Victoria was greeted by her dad with a cold beer at his house. Her friends immediately came over to show their support. When she saw pictures of her house, all that remained was the brick chimney. She was bewildered and left with a sense of emptiness. Aside from her home, the losses that were hardest for her included family heirlooms like photo albums, artwork, jewelry, and clothes.
It was difficult to find housing in Chico, as others who lost their houses were searching as well. It was also hard to rebuild normalcy. She recalled a large encampment that was set up at Walmart to aid the newly unhoused fire victims who were seeking solace. Victoria spent a couple years in Chico, which she described as more expensive for less property, before buying a new house in Paradise and renting it out. While she had renters insurance, her income was too high to qualify her for FEMA. She decided to file a lawsuit against PG&E along with numerous others.
Victoria hasn’t been to Paradise for a while, but she recalled its solemn nature. “It doesn’t look the same,” she noted, “All the trees are gone.” While 40 percent of the town’s housing has been restored, the residents are still mentally scarred. She may return for maintenance on her house, but does not plan to go back long term. Instead, she plans to relocate to Reno to join her partner and start a family. She said surviving the fire has made her more resilient and changed her threshold for stress. She said, “My problems feel small in comparison to what I went through.”
Lasting Impact
To treat her resulting PTSD and depression, Victoria began taking Wellbutrin in 2019. She’s also had panic attacks triggered by driving through a low-visibility mountainous area. “My vision went black and I felt like I was going to pass out,” she said.
Victoria wishes people outside the area understood how chaotic life after the fire was and that PG&E is raising their rates every year to pay for the lawsuit after being found guilty. She wants other communities to learn how important communication is from this disaster. “Every city and town should have a solid emergency alert system,” she said.
Although the fire was put out, her sense of safety was tarnished by the flames, something even a sea of water cannot restore.
Reported and Written by Gabriela Alikhan
