Hadn't heard about this fire; will check it on the Weather Channel or late news. Such beautiful territory up around Chico! Good luck to your mother and her friend. I hope that LE and the firefighters are overseeing an orderly evacuation!

I briefly heard about it on the radio this afternoon, and I'm shocked at how much has already been destroyed. Apparently, the entire town of Paradise is gone! Highway 99 is closed. I will be heartbroken if much of Chico burns. My family has lived there for many generations - back to the 1800's.

I have an online friend from another forum who lives in the mountains outside of Chico. I am praying that they are safe.

Donna

I live in Santa Rosa, 150 miles south of the Butte fire. Since yesterday morning our sky here is thick with smoke that's blown all the way down. It's very scary and reminiscent of our own Tubbs fire last October.

I'm sorry to hear this, terriks. I hope your family are all safe.

I hope your mother is alright, terriks. I am so sorry she is going through this. The air quality during these fires must be particularly hard on an older person too.

Gosh! Besides just the property being so expensive in California, the home insurance, fire coupled with earthquake, must be outrageous! Seems like there is fire all the time.

I just talked to my mother. They made it to Sacramento last night where her partner's son lives. It took them over 4 hours to make a trip that should take 1.5 hours.

Thanks for all your thoughts.

My dear friend evacuated during the night from Oak Park (Woolsey and Hill fires) with her two cats and her elderly parents evacuated as well. All on the heels of the borderline shooting just a few miles away.

Terriks, glad your mom is safe. The land will still be there and nature rebounds after a fire. It takes a while, but there will be a renewal. I hope your family decides to rebuild and maintain the history there. That is part of the history -- facing the challenges and overcoming them.

DLM, glad you heard from your friend and she and the felines are safe. Two of my DH's high school classmates live -- or lived, in Paradise. He has been concerned about them.

It's hard to even imagine a whole town being wiped off the map. I really miss so much of California since we moved to Philly from Monterey, friends and scenery and weather and food, and lots more. But in all the years we lived up in Carmel Valley and over in Prunedale, I do not miss the constant wariness at the very hint of fire, and then ensuing rains and flooding and slides. I've been thru it all. I never minded earthquakes too much, but the fires just terrify me. Paradise was such a lovely town. My heart goes out to everyone.

Terriks, I’m glad your Mom and her friend are safe. These fires are awful. Well, all these natural disasters are awful. Too many members here as well as friends and family members have been affected recently it seems.

lascatx - my mother's home is safe, and I think that it will stay that way. It's right in the center of the city, close to the University there. My grandparents built the house in 1945, and it's always been very special to the entire family. She wasn't under mandatory evacuation, but my brother convinced her to get out of there, just in case, and because the air is thick with black smoke, so it's definitely not healthy to be there.

terriks I'm glad to hear your mother is safe. The winds are a bit less, today, and the air quality where she is at should be much better. I see in the news that so far, five people have been found in cars, burned while trying to escape Paradise.

I also heard about the people being found in their cars. It must have been terrifying. I've watched a few videos of people literally driving through the fire to escape.

I grew up in Sacramento, visiting my grandparents in Chico often, and I don't remember a time that I was ever concerned about fire in the area. I've been in Southern Oregon for over 25 years now, and our last few summers have been ruined by smoke from the fires. It was a rarity when we moved here.

I'm glad momma is safe and it looks like the house will be okay. I couldn't imagine what that would do to someone of any age let alone someone in their late eighties.

So sad and worried for everybody in line of the fire. Any of you GWers who are please take care. My thoughts are with you. I have been thinking of you all day.

My sister-in-law lives in Victorville. No matter where the fires are I always worry. She and her man do a lot of camping and traveling about. I just emailed her.

Terriks, I’m so glad your mother safely evacuated. Watching the news right now and it’s horrifying.

My daughter is in college in southern CA but far far south from any active fires. However, she texted me a couple of hours ago that her roommate’s family was evacuated from their home near the Woolsey Fire. They live near Thousand Oaks. I just was googling info about the fire and found a list of homes that have burned and it specifically mentions that one home is on fire on the street my daughter’s roommate lives! No specific address..just says the name of her street, which does not have many homes. I just texted my daughter but she has not seen her roommate all afternoon and thinks her roommate left to be with her parents. Her other roommate’s sister goes to Pepperdine, which has also been evacuated. After what happened earlier this week, it is just awful they have another tragedy to deal with.

My sister-in-law sent an email a few minutes ago. Chico is 8hours from her and Thousand Oaks about three hours, so they are ok.

Terriks, I'm so happy your mother and her boyfriend are safe. Evacuations are hard, and more so at that age.

Hugs to you and your mother.

Good news about your mother. I also love that she is 88 and has a boyfriend.I have to get in touch with my son. He lives in Ventura. The last fire there literally stopped a few doors down from him. He did have damage to his backyard. He lost a lot of trees. I've been getting news from my Facebook friends in CA and it looks just awful. No good news coming from CA lately.

Sushi, at least fires are not a problem here. We are more likely to drown than burn. We did have a huge house explosion near me. The cause is still unknown but I have my suspicions.

This is unreal.
https://google.org/crisismap/google.com/2018-Woolsey-fire

https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/fires/article221411505.html

This is a good interactive map that shows what's actually burned/burning inside the huge fire perimeter.

Thanks Fun2BHere - that's a good map. Talked to my friend, she and her parents went back for medicines and a few other things they didn't have time to grab. Both houses are ok as of now although the hills around them have burned.