You Are Ascending
Into Paradise

A ridge-top town in Butte County, California. Home to schools, churches, a garden club, veterans' posts, and neighbors who knew each other by name, all of it visible on the same hand-painted sign that welcomed you into town.

It Began on a Ridge Like This

On November 8, 2018, a wildfire ignited in the hills above Paradise and grew faster than almost any fire in California history. Within hours, an entire town needed to know where to go, and in what language.

By Nightfall

Fire moves along the ground long before anyone sees it from the sky. Evacuation orders, road closures, and shelter locations had to reach every resident in real time, not eventually.

The Road Out

Highways became the only way out of town, kept open by crews working under conditions most people never see. Every instruction given on a night like this has to be understood the first time it's given.

The Response

Aircraft, engines, and crews from across the state converged on the fire within hours. Coordinating a response this size means coordinating communication across every agency involved, in every language spoken by the people they serve.

On the Line

Ground crews worked the fire directly, often within feet of the flames. The instructions that keep a crew safe and the instructions that keep a community safe are the same instructions. They only work if everyone understands them.

Felt for Miles

The smoke from the Camp Fire was visible more than a hundred miles away, over cities that had nothing to do with Paradise and everything to do with what a single ridge-top fire could become.

A Matter of Record

Federal satellites tracked the fire's spread in real time. The Camp Fire remains the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history: 85 lives lost, and the town of Paradise almost entirely destroyed.