My sister just got married in August. Her and her husband just lost everything in the campfire that ravaged through our town of Paradise and Magalia. Lauren found herself surrounded by flames in paradise where she was helping out the firefighters. They didn’t have warning to grab anything from their house and are now homeless. Anything helps. Thank you.



Lauren Melville ‘s POST “On November 8th I lost my car, cash, clothes, school books, pictures, all of our important documents. I lost my house.
I helped evacuate the hospital. My classmate Robin and I drove through a tunnel of fire with cars becoming fully engulfed on both sides, embers raining down on top of us. The glass windows were getting hot. The person we sheltered in our car eventually panicked and jumped out. We saw an ambulance catch fire two feet from our vehicle. All traffic came to a stop at Pentz and Billie because there was no place to go. Luckily there was a fire engine on the corner that drenched all of the cars and fought back the flames from whatever was on fire around us. We sat there for hours not knowing the fate of our classmates, our families, or our homes. We were eventually funneled into the Save Mart parking lot to sit like ducks and wait it out with 250 other cars because we were surrounded on all sides. Luckily the Feather River Emergency room doctor, Dr. Muller was there. Robin and I assisted him for hours assessing civilians and getting them a medical escort out if their condition was bad. There were several people who had breathing problems, there was a rollover spinal injury, people running low on their oxygen, and a burn victim with his skin peeling on his face and hands, his hair burned off.
When we finally were able to leave, we followed the caravan through town down Clark. The town I grew up in is no longer there. Only a handful of buildings are left. Mostly only the ghosts of buildings that once stood strong were left.
Robin and I followed the caravan down to her road. We found her family, mom, dad, and boyfriend Colby, at her ranch house defending it with everything they had. The fire had already passed through around the house, but the wind throwing up embers was of most concern for the house still. We spent our time constantly patrolling the perimeter for any hot spots that were flaring back up or making sure all of the livestock were still safe in their pens. As the day turned to night, the winds got stronger. It sounded like a tornado. There I stayed with them and fought the fire through the night. Only attempting to sleep at the point of exhaustion, yet still unable to sleep with my mind running with thoughts about what I had lost and what my next move was.
Robin had enough service so I could get a call out to my husband Mike. I hadn't heard from him since before I lost service inside the most uncertain of times in the tunnel of fire on Pentz. He had been in Reno for a week. As soon as I told him the hospital was evacuating, he left Reno right then. He was able to find our neighbors who saved our dog Bowser and sought shelter in Chico with friends.
As I woke up on Friday, the wind had stopped. The smoke still blotted out the sun to near pitch black. But when I looked around, I only saw a handful of smoldering stumps on the hillsides. Everything else was out. After breakfast Robin, her dad and I drove to their neighbor's house to see how he faired through the night. By himself with his tractor, he was able to save his house, several horses, and his neighbor's house. We continued on in hopes of reaching Clark Road. We were stopped by down lines so we went back to the house.
Throughout Friday and Saturday we prepared the yard for another wind storm. We made a trip into town and found my house...destroyed. Every house on the street was gone except the two on the end of the dead end, my friend Chris' being one of them. We then went on to find Robin's boyfriend's Colby's house near Mendon's Nursery. His was the only one standing beside the ashes of his neighbor's houses. He was able to gather some necessities and one of his cars started up. After we left his house we were stopped by a pair of Sacramento policemen who held Colby at gunpoint expecting us all to be looters. After taking pictures of all our I.D.s and the two vehicles, we were released. Then we made our way back to the house.
Tomorrow Mike is going to try to get to me with supplies for the ranch.
Last night another red flag wind warning was predicted, so we prepared for another firefight. As I awoke this morning, the winds have returned. Wish us luck.”