Barbara Ramsey, 75, saw her home catch fire. She escaped Paradise, driving through flames.
“I screamed at my daughter, my little grandson. I said, ‘We got to get out now!,’” she said. “So many people didn't get out — they were burned in their cars.”
A harrowing escape from the Camp Fire in the dark
She could see spot fires along the highway. She felt the heat.
“It was so dark, you’d have thought it was midnight,” she said.
As they drove through gridlock traffic, her daughter and grandson by her side, they heard propane tanks exploding. She spotted a helicopter overhead spilling water on a crowd of people at a Fastrip gas station.
“They were trapped,” she said.
Grateful to be alive in Paradise, California: 'Everybody lost their home'
Ramsey is staying with family in Gridley. She lost everything, but is grateful to be alive.
She felt helpless so she’s going to the shelter in Gridley to help other Camp Fire evacuees from Paradise.
“Everybody lost their home,” she said. “The first day you’re just numb.”
At a Gridley Safeway shopping center, a sign welcoming evacuees hangs on a window of Epic De Cesar Chavez HS: “Stay warm. Wash up. Nap for a bit. Free clothes.”
Evacuees who fled their home with nothing waited in a long line to purchase necessities at a dollar store next door.
What comes next for Paradise survivors
Ramsey stood by Christmas decorations. She thought about the long list of things she needs pick up and about her dogs who she grabbed before rushing out the door. The only objects she took were her wedding photos, framed family portraits and insurance papers.
Her husband, a school teacher, died a few years ago. She said if he’d been alive, she knows he wouldn’t have made it out.
So many people didn’t make it, she said.