Book Review: Fire in Paradise, Alastair Gee and Dani Anguiano(Norton)2020

       Many stories evolved from what became the state of California's worst wildfire in 2018.  What began as a spark-induced grass fire, soon developed into a raging unstoppable beast that consumed over 200 square miles of the foothills landscape and claimed the lives of 85 citizens in the old mining town of Paradise.  Two reporters were sent to get the story of the aftermath.  Their goal: put a human face on the tragedies that multiplied as the fire swept the town, perched on a ridgetop, not far from the state capitol of Sacramento.
       California has a multiplicity of climate areas:  high Sierra or alpine; coastal marine from Monterey Bay to the Oregon border; the central Valley from Redding to Tejon Pass/the Grapevine; the Los Angeles Basin; the high desert of Riverside county;  the county of San Diego; the eastern Sierra; the Modoc Plateau of the northeast corner; and the southern Cascades.   All together, we have a wide variety-north to south; and east to west.   Most of the state's 44 millions live in large metro areas.   But a sizeable number prefer less congested, more scenic areas, such as the Foothills of the west fringes of the Sierra, also known as the Gold Country for it was here that gold was discovered in 1848.  At the western foot of the ridge upon which the town of Paradise was built lies the city of Chico- a college town, home to State University at Chico, which straddles the Sacramento River, here a tail water below several dams built in the 20th century surge of big hydroelectric water storage facilities.
        The over all climate of California is called Mediterrenean: long dry summers, short wet winters, lasting about 4-5 months.   There's not much fall or spring as the rainy season ends abruptly in April.
As the long summer hot spell pulls the moisture from the ground and its cover, conditions become ripe for wild fires which have plagued the state for centuries.   Millions of dollars are spent annually to keep the fires from engulfing encroaching urban development.   It's been a losing battle these past few years with devastating results: billions of dollars in losses to insured and uninsured residents.  In 2018, conditions in the foothills were tailor made for an extraordinary event of fire.  On the night of Nov. 7-8, there was a wind shift, bringing hot. violent winds from the Great Basin of Nevada westward toward low pressure areas near the Pacific Ocean.   Then a P.G. & E. powerline failed, jumping its clamp on a tower, falling into dry grasses below.   Within minutes, flames were fanned by high winds and the fire began its climb out of a canyon up the hill to the top of Paradise Ridge.  By 7:57a.m., the city of Paradise issued its first mass evacuation order to the residents.  Maybe half of the locals received the warning.   By the time it was under control, over 200square miles were charred and 85 locals lost their lives, many never got out of the house,
       It's makes for a great read with tension and anxious moments as the authors help recount the personal stories that form the basis of their narrative.   It identifies the myriad problems with evacuations that occur all at once with a plan that never figured that the entire town would ever be ordered to leave together.   It didn't work.  Many died in their vehicles, stuck with no refuge from the flames that engulfed the cars and trucks.
       This fire will always be the new "worst case" fire used as a reference for future fires, sure to come.
5 Stars-excellent read

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