Jarrod & Kayla Paradise Fire

On November 8th at 6:30AM our day started as normal; I (Jarrod) started making coffee for us as a part of our daily routine getting ready for work. At 6:34 AM the #CampFire in Paradise was just beginning it's destructive path into our town.

We lived on the northeastern part of town almost directly west from the origin of the fire off Beverly Lane and witnessed a small smoke plume as soon as we woke up. We proceeded for the next 20 minutes calmly packing up essentials not knowing how rapidly the situation was going to deteriorate. 
(The red dot represents our house in Paradise, we could potentially be the closest house in Paradise to the fire's origin in Pulga)

By 7:15 AM we were facing a giant smoke plume rising from the canyon opposite our house.



We were able to grab our golden retriever: Ludo, 2 cats: Calvin and Hobbes, enough food for a few days for them and a handful of clothes for us. We were unable to grab any photos or sentimental items.  (Grandma Beth's letters, Kayla's mom's handmade quilt and Jarrod's mom's handmade quilt, race medals, sooo many books and journals and many things that we haven't been able to process or think about just yet)

The fire grew astonishingly quickly. 

7:25 AM

7:44 AM

This was the last photo taken before leaving our house for the last time at 8:05 AM. 

We departed our house not having received any emergency notification or evacuation orders so we notified as many of our neighbors as possible on our way out; we don't know the whereabouts of any of our neighbors but we are hoping and praying they were able to get out safely. (Please reach out if you happen to see this)

The drive out of town was surreal, at this point Kayla received a phone call from her coworker telling her flames had come up close to their workplace 3 miles south and that everyone was told to "Get out.", at the same time police were driving northbound on the Skyway (main road in and out of town) repeating "Mandatory Evacuation In Place. Get Out Now." This, along with the mounting wall of smoke, red glow and random spot fires were enough to tell us this was much bigger than we had ever realized.

We waited in Chico at Starbucks with many other evacuees waiting with bated breath about the fate of our small town. By 11:00 AM we knew there wasn't going to be any hope and we departed to safety at friends and families residences in the SF Bay Area. 

15 miles away from the fire. 

From the parking lot of Starbucks 15 miles away. 
(The scale of the fire and smoke plumes were simply beyond comprehension, the entire city of Chico was plunged into night-like darkness from the amount of smoke from our town burning)

While we haven't gotten direct confirmation of our house being destroyed, our neighbors on Beverly and Drayer have reported that the entire street is leveled to nothing more than ash and debris. 



We both consider ourselves incredibly lucky; we escaped safely with the most important things in our life: each other and our 4 legged family. Our hearts are incredibly heavy with mourning for all of our neighbors and fellow Paradisians; there are no words to describe how shocking this event has been.

Kayla, who works at Feather River Cancer Center as a radiation therapist, doesn't know whether she will be going back to work as part of the hospital campus burned down. Jarrod, who worked from home as a motorcycle mechanic and small business owner, lost all of his tools, machinery and working equipment (3D printers, computers, supplies and prototypes).

We have already started to receive help with donations of winter clothes and the basic necessities; we are so thankful for the overwhelming amount of help and support we've received and we would like to pass this forward to others in our community. We will both be making many trips back to Butte county and Paradise as we assess our losses and try to deal with this tragedy; we would like to take as many supplies and donated goods up with us on these trips. 

We're asking for monetary donations to assist in the financial impacts of losing our home and the long-term effects it will have. We greatly appreciate any donations monetary or otherwise. 

Thank you so much for all your support in our time of need. 

Even kind words of support will go a long way for us. Feel free to reach out to us on social media, cellphones, or via this website.

Lot of love, 
Kayla & Jarrod