Paradise Fire/Camp Creek Fire 11/08/2018 (Chico, Oroville: places to live, suite, required)

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by opossum1

well in paradise case it was county and city roads that were a factor...
Paradise had actually narrowed the main road from 4 to 2 lanes in "effort to boost commerce" earlier, apparently:
https://www.latimes.com/local/califo...120-story.html
sad.

OH. MY. GAWD!

after a fast-moving fire swept into town a decade ago, burning more than 200 homes and trapping thousands of fleeing residents on gridlocked mountain roads, a grand jury called on officials to improve evacuation routes.

but six years later, the city decided to narrow a portion of the main road through town from four lanes to two as part of an effort in the downtown area aimed at boosting commerce as well as traffic and pedestrian safety.

. That definitely was not in the documentary!


I weep for humanity!

[opossum1]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

OH. MY. GAWD!

. That definitely was not in the documentary!

Yep. Very sad and shocking.
We got to do our heavy due diligence when moving to any area... can't hope that towns or counties would look out for us.

[Reziac]

Ya know, if you want to slow down traffic, there's a much simpler method, tried and true, which doesn't narrow the roads beyond usability during an emergency:

The stoplight.

Set intersections to staggered red and you'll have all the slow traffic you like.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Reziac

Ya know, if you want to slow down traffic, there's a much simpler method, tried and true, which doesn't narrow the roads beyond usability during an emergency:

The stoplight.

Set intersections to staggered red and you'll have all the slow traffic you like.

lol. So simple, so obvious, and at this point--so horribly tragic. Not really "lol" material at all. Stoplights probably would have been a lot cheaper than narrowing the road, too.

[Windwalker2]

I live in a rural community of over 200 homes. I hadn't thought about the access issue but now I can see what a problem it could be in a fire. We aren't in forest but the desert is full of brush that could burn. Within the community all roads are 2 lane dirt. For many miles all the access roads are 2 lane, including two state highways. Getting to the highways, which are better maintained along the sides, brush cut back,etc. could be problematic if many people were home and trying to get out.

[JGC97]

Originally Posted by opossum1

Well in Paradise case it was county and city roads that were a factor...
Paradise had actually narrowed the main road from 4 to 2 lanes in "effort to boost commerce" earlier, apparently:
https://www.latimes.com/local/califo...120-story.html
Sad.

Thank you for posting that information, opossum. I don't think many even knew about that. Forewarned is forearmed when it comes to deciding on a place to live. So do your due diligence before making the decision to move to a specific area.

[KittenSparkles]

You can watch the entire PBS Frontline episode on the fire here:

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/f...e-in-paradise/

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by KittenSparkles

You can watch the entire PBS Frontline episode on the fire here:

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/f...e-in-paradise/

I'd like to caution people about watching this. Remember: you can't "unsee" and "unhear" things once you've seen and heard them. Not that there are any grisly scenes there, but still....the some of the stories are horrifying.

[mgforshort]

"On another note...I drove by this area in September again and seen what appeared to be people living on their lots in large camping tents... I wonder if they visited or just live there like this.
I've seen empty cleared-out in-town lots of about 1/3 acres listed for 40K on MLS there now...it's crazy."

They are not visiting and not planning to live like this. They are collecting permits and contractors to rebuild.

"Paradise narrowed its main road by two lanes despite warnings of gridlock during a major wildfire."

That is true, but the blocked lanes are still there, just that we are not allowed to drive on them unless in an emergency. It is only restricted for a 1/4 of a mile.

The main road in Paradise is called the Skyway. South of Wagstaff the Skyway is a four-lane highway with speed limits of 30 to 55. Two lanes northbound, the other two southbound, separated by yellow double lines, no median. It is a fairly straight highway capable of handling cars going at 60-75 if the driver is competent.

During the evacuation all four lanes were turned one way to Chico. Three other roads lead out of town towards Oroville and Chico - they are: Clark Rd, Pentz Rd, and Neal Rd.
Some of these were blocked from fallen trees and power poles as the fire was coming from the direction of Pentz and later Clark Rd. That left the Skyway as the last, or best option to get out.

I have no idea what caused the gridlock because on a four lane highway where one can easily drive south, downhill at speeds of 60 or higher the number of cars should have been able to empty Paradise in an hour or two. There was a major bottleneck when we arrived at the intersection of Bruce Rd / Skyway in Chico. If the sheriff could have broken that up - I mean keep it going - then, in my opinion, the evacuation would have been more successful.

[mgforshort]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

I'd like to caution people about watching this. Remember: you can't "unsee" and "unhear" things once you've seen and heard them. Not that there are any grisly scenes there, but still....the some of the stories are horrifying.

Thanks for the warning, Ruth, but we have seen the live version, I doubt the video could be any worse.