On November 8th, 2018 life as they knew it for the residents of Paradise and surrounding communities changed forever. The aftermath of the Camp Fire left 50,000+ homeless, 90% of Paradise decimated, 17,000 homes and businesses destroyed and 86 residents who had perished.
Among those whose lives were forever turned upside down in a terrifying fashion is one of our classmates, Wendy Lowman Haase. Living as a retiree with her two cats in a mobile home park, Wendy appreciated the quiet lifestyle that the community of Paradise offered. On the morning that the hillsides exploded into fire, Wendy tried unsuccessfully to get her elderly neighbor to leave his mobile home while quickly packing some items into her truck and trying to round up both of her cats in order to escape the fast approaching flames. After almost an hour of inching less than a mile away from the flames, traffic was ordered to turn around so she made another attempt at her mobile home park, to no avail, before being forced to drive into the flames and thick, dark-as-night smoke. It was anotherfour hours and yet another blocked avenue/turnaround back towards the inferno before she finally managed to arrive in Oroville. Four weeks passed before her missing cat, skinny and sporting burned paws, was rescued by a volunteer one mile from her burned out home. Thankfully he has since recuperated under the care of both a veterinarian and Wendy.
With a severe shortage of available rental housing in Butte County, Wendy is facing an uphill battle, along with other fire victims, to relocate within the county. After initially staying with her daughter in Oroville, Wendy recently moved into a FEMA trailer in a newly designated encampment as a stopgap measure while seeking permanent housing. Her daughter's plans to move outside of Butte County (for closer proximity to her husband's work) are almost complete as escrow draws to a close on the sale of their home. Coupled with the lack of insurance on her own mobile home, Wendy's options are very limited. She is facing the daunting task of not only finding/securing a dwelling unit but also replacing the entirety of its contents, ranging from a simple fingernail file to basic furniture - the household items that each of us take for granted and what ultimately turns our living spaces into a home.
It took a lot of persuading to get Wendy's blessing to create this fund on her behalf as she felt evacuees with families were more deserving than she was to receive such donations. But as she was reminded...When we can, we do. When we can't, we don't. It is the hope that this fund will provide her with some options to getting back on her feet and living independently once again.
Timeline video of first day of the Camp Fire:
https://www.facebook.com/butte.county.fires.accidents.crimes/videos/738882699804762/