
Patch Family Values #buttestrong
Donation protected
You may know me and you may be a total stranger. Yet we all share the common thread that when you wake up in the morning, you never think it will be the last in your home. Looking back now that it has been a week and the shock has begun to wear off, I am gaining more clarity and it is genuinely terrifying. Each day the briefings we all gather to watch become sadder than the one we heard before. More damage, more loss of life, more tragedy and little joy. We received no text messages or emergency alerts because the Camp Fire moved too fast. It has been a nightmare scenario of grand proportions. When I saw the flames and smoke near the lookout on Sawmill Peak I had minimal concern for the widespread devastation that is still in progress. I thought we were leaving just in case because the routes off the mountain are limited. I had no idea my cousin and her son would live in terror for hours surrounded by a firestorm on a concrete slab protected by first responders. I will be forever grateful to those who stood between my loved ones and the raging elements. I also wish I wasn’t so groggy that morning because I am unsure which kind neighbor knocked on the door in concern for my grandmother; alerting us there was danger when they also needed to evacuate their own family. We still did not know as we drove away from Magalia about the fire moving so quickly just below us in Paradise or the horrible struggle the community was experiencing. I actually thought the evacuation was precaution, not necessity. To me, we would be gone a short while, forever wasn’t even a glimmer. As I waited anxiously in a turnout on 32 watching for my Auntie and Grams I’d been separated from on the road, the sky was still clear and I had more concern for their worry than my own safety. It wasn’t until I got below Forest Ranch desperately trying to get to service and let them know where I was that I saw the immensity of the blaze raging along the ridge and understood what we ran from. Somehow I still I held out hope for a miracle that our homes would be spared. My entire maternal family has been living in Butte County for more than half a century and to date have lost three of four homes spanning three different towns with all our “heirlooms”, plants and material possessions. I am grateful to say we all made it out alive when so many did not. Eight adults (including my nearly 90 year old grandmother), two children under the age of twelve and three dogs. Each of us have our own harrowing adventures to tell. I’ve logged back onto social media for the first time in six years. It Is telling that it took something of this proportion to catalyst that. I started this campaign for all of us. Any little thing you or someone you know can help us with, even prayers, will be viewed as a miracle and they seem in short supply. Please donate here or contact me privately if you wish to be involved in some other way. I am blessed to know you and thank you for holding space in your lives for me and mine. ❤️
Organizer
Lalita Devi Dasi
Organizer
Magalia, CA