We’re getting encouragingly close to our GoFundMe goal to help our friend Bésame, who lost her home after a terrifying escape from the Camp Fire. I was asked to post a version of this story during the day, when it may reach a different audience than it did in the evening. Neeta Lind is kindly hosting until I get back from the dentist. ;)
We have all seen and read the awful wildfire news out of both northern and southern California, and especially, about the Camp Fire that has destroyed the northern California town of Paradise. The fire there, about 70% contained as of Monday and no longer near inhabited areas, has burned 151,000 acres, including 11,700 single-family homes. At this writing, 79 people are confirmed dead and 699 are unaccounted for.
The landscape was so dry that the fire exploded forward, airborne. Burning materials rained from the sky, carried by strong winds, igniting simultaneous fires all over town. We’re very lucky that Bésame and our other Daily Kos friends were able to escape and find refuge in the town of Chico.
Bésame managed to get her parrots and a few things of hers in the car and get out before traffic ground to a halt and people had to flee on foot. She’s ended up in a motel room in Chico.
She wrote in detail last week about her experience; that story is here. And if you like scary stories, smileycreek wrote for Bésame on Sunday evening and gave a hair-raising account of her own and paradise50’s escape.
Almost the entire town of Paradise has evacuated to Chico, and earlier evacuees of this summer’s Carr Fire were already there. This means that finding another suitable rental house Bésame can afford on a fixed income is likely to be very difficult and take quite a while, severely taxing her resources. She has a GoFundMe, in the hope of getting together enough money to house herself and her birds during her search for another home, possibly at some distance, and to then provide enough up-front money to secure a place. If you are able to help out, she’d be most grateful.
As always, whether or not you can donate, sharing on Facebook and Twitter, and by any other means, is vital to her success. There are buttons on her page for those social media, so you can share the GoFundMe page directly.
And thank you!!!