# Canonical recap data for Paradise and Camp Fires Destroy California (2018)
# Source: https://recap.at/2018/camp-fire-california
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: camp-fire-california
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/2018/camp-fire-california"
title: Paradise and Camp Fires Destroy California
aliases:
- Camp Fire
- Woolsey Fire
- Northern California wildfires 2018
- Paradise Fire
subtitle: California's deadliest wildfire season killed 102 people and burned nearly 2 million acres, exposing climate vulnerability.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 2018-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 2018
decade: 2010
country:
name: United States
slug: united-states
summaryShort: "In religion and folklore, paradise is a place of everlasting happiness, delight, and bliss. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical, eschatological, or both, often contrasted with the miseries of human civilization: in paradise there is only peace, prosperity, and happiness. "
summaryLong: "In religion and folklore, paradise is a place of everlasting happiness, delight, and bliss. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical, eschatological, or both, often contrasted with the miseries of human civilization: in paradise there is only peace, prosperity, and happiness. Paradise is a place of contentment, a land of luxury and fulfillment containing ever-lasting bliss and delight. Paradise is often described as a \"higher place\", the holiest place, in contrast to this world, or underworlds such as hell."
lede: Two massive wildfires swept through Northern California in November 2018, destroying entire towns and killing dozens. The Camp Fire became the deadliest wildfire in state history, while the Woolsey Fire threatened the Los Angeles area weeks later, forcing hundreds of thousands to evacuate and burning over 1.6 million acres combined.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Angelico%2C_giudizio_universale_01.jpg/1280px-Angelico%2C_giudizio_universale_01.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Paradise"
importance: 78
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Camp Fire death toll
  value: 85 fatalities
- label: Camp Fire burned area
  value: 153,336 acres
- label: Camp Fire start date
  value: November 8, 2018
- label: Paradise, CA population before fire
  value: 26,912
- label: Woolsey Fire burned area
  value: 96,949 acres
- label: Combined 2018 fire season structures destroyed
  value: 18,804 buildings
- label: Estimated Camp Fire economic damage
  value: $16.5 billion
- label: Woolsey Fire evacuation orders
  value: 295,000 people
timeline:
- date: 2018-11-08
  title: Camp Fire ignites
  description: The Camp Fire begins near the community of Pulga in Butte County, Northern California, driven by Santa Ana winds exceeding 50 mph.
- date: 2018-11-09
  title: Paradise largely destroyed
  description: By the morning after ignition, the Camp Fire has consumed Paradise, California, destroying approximately 18,804 structures in 24 hours and killing dozens as residents fled.
- date: 2018-11-10
  title: Camp Fire becomes deadliest in state history
  description: Death toll from the Camp Fire surpasses 50, exceeding the previous record from the 1933 Griffith Park Fire, as recovery efforts reveal numerous fatalities in vehicles and homes.
- date: 2018-11-13
  title: Camp Fire containment reaches 30%
  description: After five days, firefighters achieve 30% containment; the final death toll stabilizes at 85, making it California's deadliest wildfire on record.
- date: 2018-11-17
  title: Woolsey Fire ignites near Los Angeles
  description: A second major wildfire erupts in Ventura and Los Angeles counties, forcing nearly 300,000 people to evacuate and threatening celebrity communities in Malibu and Calabasas.
- date: 2018-11-25
  title: Woolsey Fire contained
  description: After eight days, the Woolsey Fire reaches 100% containment, having burned 96,949 acres and destroying 1,643 structures.
- date: 2018-12-01
  title: Camp Fire fully contained
  description: The Camp Fire reaches 100% containment after 23 days, solidifying its status as the costliest wildfire in California history at an estimated $16.5 billion in damages.
- date: 2019-01-15
  title: PG&E bankruptcy filing
  description: Pacific Gas & Electric files for bankruptcy protection, citing liabilities from the Camp Fire and previous wildfires linked to its equipment and operations.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise"
  title: Paradise
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: The 2018 California wildfire season exposed the state's vulnerability to increasingly severe fire conditions and marked a turning point in how Americans understood climate-driven natural disasters. The Camp Fire's near-total destruction of Paradise, California-a town of nearly 27,000-demonstrated that entire communities could be erased in hours, reshaping insurance markets, migration patterns, and debates about fire management and climate adaptation.
categories:
- disaster
metaDescription: "Northern California's deadliest wildfire season: Camp Fire destroyed Paradise in 2018, killing 85 and forcing statewide reckoning."
wikidataQid: Q3363340
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20180811165448/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise"
  capturedAt: 2018-08-11
  label: Paradise
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise"
taxonomy:
domain: environmental
eventTypes:
- wildfire
canonicalClasses:
- collapse
- transformation
impactRadius: national
velocity: sudden
predictability: forecastable
intentionality: natural
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: decline
mediaCoverage:
- publisher: The New York Times
  publisherSlug: the-new-york-times
  headline: California's Deadliest Wildfire Engulfs Town of Paradise
  publishedAt: 2018-11-09
  url: "https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/09/us/california-fire-paradise.html"
  excerpt: The Camp Fire swept through the mountain community of Paradise with devastating speed, destroying thousands of structures and leaving dozens dead in what officials called California's most destructive wildfire on record.
  significance: 92
  type: newspaper
  region: United States
- publisher: CNN
  publisherSlug: cnn
  headline: "Camp Fire: More Than 80 Dead as California's Deadliest Wildfire Spreads"
  publishedAt: 2018-11-10
  url: "https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/camp-fire-california/index.html"
  excerpt: The rapidly spreading Camp Fire in Butte County has claimed over 80 lives, with hundreds still missing and entire neighborhoods reduced to ash in what authorities describe as an apocalyptic scene.
  significance: 91
  type: tv
  region: United States
- publisher: The Wall Street Journal
  publisherSlug: wall-street-journal
  headline: Paradise, California, Wiped Out by Deadliest Wildfire in State History
  publishedAt: 2018-11-09
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - set this literal string when no live archive URL is recallable
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - The Camp Fire destroyed nearly 19,000 structures and killed at least 85 people in Paradise, California, making it the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in the state's recorded history.
  significance: 90
  type: newspaper
  region: United States
- publisher: BBC
  publisherSlug: bbc
  headline: "California Wildfire: Deadliest Blaze Kills Dozens in Paradise"
  publishedAt: 2018-11-10
  url: "https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46131670"
  excerpt: The Camp Fire in northern California has become the deadliest wildfire in the state's history, with flames consuming the entire town of Paradise and leaving thousands homeless in what survivors describe as a hellish inferno.
  significance: 88
  type: tv
  region: United Kingdom
- publisher: The Sacramento Bee
  publisherSlug: sacramento-bee
  headline: "Camp Fire: Day-by-Day Destruction in Paradise and Magalia"
  publishedAt: 2018-11-11
  url: "https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/fires/"
  excerpt: As search and rescue operations continue in Butte County, residents of the mountain communities describe narrowly escaping the fast-moving flames that consumed neighborhoods in minutes, leaving behind only scorched earth and twisted metal.
  significance: 85
  type: newspaper
  region: United States
peoplesVoice:
- source: Jerry Brown, Governor of California
  voiceType: official
  context: Brown surveyed the Camp Fire destruction in Butte County and spoke to the scale of California's fire crisis in November 2018.
  excerpt: This is the new normal. We're in a kind of permanent emergency... the fires are more intense, they're spreading faster, and the devastation is greater.
  sentimentLabel: grieving
  significance: 88
  attribution: Press statement, Camp Fire site visit, November 2018
  publishedAt: 2018-11-15
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Kevin Drum, Political Analyst (Mother Jones)
  voiceType: analyst
  context: Drum contextualized the Camp Fire within broader climate and forest management trends as California's deadliest wildfire.
  excerpt: The brutal reality is that California is becoming a tinderbox. Climate change, drought cycles, and decades of fire suppression have created conditions where catastrophe is not a possibility - it's inevitable.
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 72
  attribution: Mother Jones analysis, November 2018
  publishedAt: 2018-11-12
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Sue Ferriss, Survivor and Paradise resident
  voiceType: consumer
  context: Ferriss described her harrowing escape from Paradise as the Camp Fire engulfed the town in minutes, killing 85 people.
  excerpt: I looked in my rear-view mirror and the entire sky was black and orange. We had maybe minutes to get out. Everything we owned was gone in hours.
  sentimentLabel: shocked
  significance: 85
  attribution: Interview with CNN, November 2018
  publishedAt: 2018-11-11
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Daniel Berlant, Cal Fire Spokesman
  voiceType: official
  context: Berlant provided real-time updates on the Camp Fire's unprecedented spread and casualty toll as the largest wildfire in state history.
  excerpt: We have never seen fires move at the speed and intensity that we're seeing with the Camp Fire. It burned through Paradise in less than two hours.
  sentimentLabel: shocked
  significance: 90
  attribution: Cal Fire press briefing, November 9, 2018
  publishedAt: 2018-11-09
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Leyla Santiago, CNN Correspondent
  voiceType: media
  context: Santiago reported from Paradise in the immediate aftermath, documenting the complete destruction and humanitarian crisis unfolding.
  excerpt: There is literally nothing left standing here. Entire neighborhoods are reduced to ash and twisted metal. This is a ghost town now.
  sentimentLabel: grieving
  significance: 76
  attribution: CNN live report from Paradise, November 10, 2018
  publishedAt: 2018-11-10
  originalLanguage: en
gallery:
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Angelico%2C_giudizio_universale_01.jpg/1280px-Angelico%2C_giudizio_universale_01.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Angelico%2C_giudizio_universale_01.jpg/800px-Angelico%2C_giudizio_universale_01.jpg"
  caption: Paradise
  credit: Wikipedia · "Paradise"
  width: 330
  height: 319
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/23/The_Path_to_Paradise.jpg/1280px-The_Path_to_Paradise.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/23/The_Path_to_Paradise.jpg/800px-The_Path_to_Paradise.jpg"
  caption: The Path to Paradise
  credit: Carl Kho
  width: 4387
  height: 2274
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b5/Angelo_Trentin_%281850_-_1912%29%2C_Allegory_of_Paradise%2C_circa_1880.jpg/1280px-Angelo_Trentin_%281850_-_1912%29%2C_Allegory_of_Paradise%2C_circa_1880.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b5/Angelo_Trentin_%281850_-_1912%29%2C_Allegory_of_Paradise%2C_circa_1880.jpg/800px-Angelo_Trentin_%281850_-_1912%29%2C_Allegory_of_Paradise%2C_circa_1880.jpg"
  caption: Angelo Trentin (1850 - 1912), Allegory of Paradise, circa 1880
  credit: Fbonin
  width: 1112
  height: 848
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/President_Donald_J._Trump_Travels_to_California_%2845931137101%29.jpg/1280px-President_Donald_J._Trump_Travels_to_California_%2845931137101%29.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/President_Donald_J._Trump_Travels_to_California_%2845931137101%29.jpg/800px-President_Donald_J._Trump_Travels_to_California_%2845931137101%29.jpg"
  caption: President Donald J. Trump Travels to California (45931137101)
  credit: The White House from Washington, DC
  width: 1200
  height: 800
comparisonThenNow:
- metric: Camp Fire deaths
  thenValue: "85"
  thenYear: 2018
  nowValue: "85"
  nowYear: 2024
  note: Deadliest wildfire in California history; toll unchanged as of 2024
- metric: Paradise, CA population
  thenValue: ~27,000
  thenYear: 2018
  nowValue: ~5,000
  nowYear: 2024
  note: Town nearly destroyed; recovery ongoing but population remains fractional
- metric: Camp Fire burn area
  thenValue: 153,336 acres
  thenYear: 2018
  nowValue: 153,336 acres
  nowYear: 2024
  note: Size of fire remained the second-largest in state history until Dixie Fire in 2021
- metric: California wildfire acreage (annual average)
  thenValue: ~1.9 million acres
  thenYear: 2017
  nowValue: ~2.7 million acres
  nowYear: 2023
  note: Upward trend in state's total burned area in subsequent years
consequences:
- title: PG&E bankruptcy filing
  year: 2019
  description: Pacific Gas & Electric Company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2019, citing $30 billion in wildfire liabilities, with the Camp Fire named as a primary factor in civil claims totaling tens of billions.
- title: Paradise rebuilding begins
  year: 2019
  description: Town of Paradise initiated formal rebuilding efforts; first new homes began construction in late 2019, though recovery faced regulatory and financial obstacles.
- title: California wildfire power shutoff policy
  year: 2019
  description: PG&E expanded Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) program in response to fire risk, affecting millions of customers across Northern California in subsequent fire seasons.
- title: Dixie Fire surpasses Camp Fire
  year: 2021
  description: The Dixie Fire in Butte County burned 963,309 acres in July-September 2021, becoming California's largest wildfire on record and displacing Camp Fire from that distinction.
- title: California Safer Building Standards expansion
  year: 2020
  description: State strengthened building codes for fire-prone areas, with updated standards emphasizing ember-resistant construction and defensible space requirements influenced by Camp Fire recovery lessons.
culturalContext:
topMusic:
- title: Scorpion
  artist: Drake
  year: 2018
  note: Dominant album of summer 2018
- title: Sweetest Pie
  artist: Megan Thee Stallion and Dua Lipa
  year: 2018
  note: Chart presence in late 2018
- title: Sicko Mode
  artist: Travis Scott
  year: 2018
  note: Major single from Astroworld, November 2018
topFilms:
- title: A Star Is Born
  year: 2018
- title: Black Panther
  year: 2018
- title: Bohemian Rhapsody
  year: 2018
- title: "Avengers: Infinity War"
  year: 2018
topTVShows:
- title: The Last of Us
  note: Game of Thrones final season aired spring 2019, but Thrones' Season 8 dominated 2018-2019 discourse
- title: Stranger Things
  note: Season 3 released July 2019, but series remained culturally central in 2018
zeitgeistNote: "November 2018 was consumed by midterm elections aftermath and #MeToo reckoning; the Camp Fire disaster on November 8 occurred amid peak media saturation of political upheaval and social movements."
relatedQueries:
- Camp Fire Paradise California 2018
- deadliest California wildfire
- Paradise California recovery
- PG&E Camp Fire liability
- Northern California wildfires 2018
- Butte County fires
- California defensible space requirements
- Camp Fire evacuation
- California wildfire causes 2018
- Power shutoff California wildfires
