Paradise - Owen Shepherd

What where when

Fire broke out at 5:30 am at Pulga, rural mountain community

By 7:45 the whole of paradise was engulfed in flames

Speed of onset due to

High wind advisory warning

Led to huge levels of spotting

Winds at 60 mph

Fire spread at up to 7.5 mph

Sky dark with ash in 20 minutes

Duration of wildfire

It took 17 days before it was contained

Response

Huge response from NGOs

Set up shelters and emergency response

Primary impacts

18,000 buildings burned down

8 of 9 schools were lost

30k to 40k homeless

85 dead

Search and rescue

The largest search and rescue operation ever conducted in California

What inhibited the response

Poor visibility

But also lack of trained workforce

4 year pathway to fight a wildfire

Underfunded

DEGG Model

What made this area vulnerable

Fuel loading due to suppression of previous fires

Huge day weather spell = climate change

Diablo winds

Topography and relief

Ponderosa Pine

Climate change led to

8 years of drought in the area

Diablo winds

Southern desert winds continue to dry everything

Perfect conditions for a fire

Why is steep relief a problem?

People can’t run as fast up hills

Fire spreads faster up hill

Vertical burn

Ponderosa Pine

Extremely flammable foliage and litter

Filled with oil and high surface area

Had been left to build up for years

Reflection has sparked what?

More amounts of backfiring

Controlled burn to remove the material in the ground that would otherwise burn

As tree is resistant to fire, and needles really flammable

another inhibiting factor

Burnovers

Burnovers

Burnt out cars blocking escape routes

People can’t get out = chaos on roads

No planned evacuation if cars on fire

Why burnovers such a problem?

Only w roads in / out of town

Became easily blocked

Long term impacts

Coroner to look for bodies

Loss of sense of place and place identit pay

PTSD