His remains would later be found under one of those vehicles, on his beloved patch of land.Ībout the same time, more than two miles to the west, on the eastern edge of Paradise, the Feather Canyon Retirement Community was hastily evacuating its more than 100 residents. She recalled her dad as relentlessly upbeat, a man who loved to tinker with old cars that inevitably broke down in the middle of nowhere. The only thing still standing was his wheelchair, near the back fence with the garden hose.īy then a separate fire about a mile away had destroyed the log cabin built by Richard Brown, the unofficial mayor of Concow, a Vietnam veteran whose mom and stepdad had a winery in Paradise - which is how he came to name his daughter, Chardonnay Telly. His remains were found in the ashes of his house. A CalFire simulation shows that by 9 a.m., flames had overtaken Green Forest Lane, where Huff lived. ![]() Soon after the family's call at 7:15 that morning, the house phone went dead. ![]() "He was putting out the flames in his backyard in his wheelchair," she said. "We told him, 'You need to evacuate now,'" said his granddaughter Jordan Huff, 22, who lived in Paradise. When the fire arrived, just after sunrise, Huff's instinct was to save his house. Huff was stoic and strong, a farm laborer who worked in the fields his whole life he lost a leg in a potato harvesting accident in 2001 but didn't let his disability hold him back, said his daughter-in-law Pearl Lankford, whose own house in Paradise burned down along with the homes of eight family members. in the tiny town of Pulga would become the nation's deadliest and most destructive wildfire in more than century. How they lived, how they died.Īnd how a fire that started at 6:30 a.m. One hundred days later - with the aid of public records showing the locations of victims' deaths, CalFire mapping of the fire's progression and dozens of interviews - their stories can be told. The oldest was 99 of the 73 bodies that have been identified, 59 were 65 or older. An entire town was burned off the map of California. Nearly 14,000 homes were incinerated.Īll told, 85 people would perish. It was just the start of a day that was almost unfathomable. On the edge of neighboring Paradise, a blaze prompted the Feather Canyon Retirement Community to evacuate its residents - all except 88-year-old Julian Binstock, overlooked in the chaos. But he never made it out.Īll around, fires were breaking out, and men and women - most of them elderly, many of them disabled - were doomed: Flames soon overtook 74-year-old Richard Brown's beloved log cabin in the Sierra Nevada foothills. When his family called at 7:15 a.m., Huff said he would leave. We are sorry for the inconvenience this notification may cause and remain at your disposal for any further information you may require.Nobody knew at the time, early on Nov. Therefore we thank you very much for all your attention and prompt action. Failure to promptly comply with these instructions will entail liability on your part for any continued or post notification usage. If you have been authorized by AFP to distribute it (them) to third parties, please ensure that the same actions are carried out by them. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention from all your online services and delete it (them) from your servers. (Photo by Josh Edelson / AFP) / The erroneous mention appearing in the metadata of this photo by Josh Edelson has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: instead of. The family lost a home in the same spot to a fire 10 years prior. ![]() TOPSHOT - Jacob Saylors, 11, walks through the burned remains of his home in Paradise, California on November 18, 2018.
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