In March 2015, an updated plan codified changes made after the 2008 fires that would convert Skyway into a one-way route during emergencies, effectively doubling its capacity. For example, in 2009, the town of Paradise proposed a reduced number of travel lanes on the roadways and received state funding from the California Department of Transportation to implement a road diet along Skyway, Pearson Road, and Clark Road, three of the town's main thoroughfares and evacuation routes. īased on these reports, there had been warnings to Paradise city planners that they were not including study results in new plans. In September 2009, the Butte County Board of Supervisors called the grand jury report "not reasonable", citing improved building codes and fire prevention requirements as arguments against a moratorium. The report also recommended a moratorium on new home construction in fire-prone areas. The report noted a combination of road conditions "which increases the fire danger and the possibility of being closed due to fire and or smoke", namely sharp curves, inadequate shoulders, and fire hazards adjacent to shoulders, such as "fire fuel and steep slopes". In June 2009, a Butte County civil grand jury report concluded that roads leading from Paradise and Upper Ridge communities had "significant constraints" and "capacity limitations" on their use as evacuation routes. The area was most recently burned in 2008 following the Humboldt Fire and the larger Butte Lightning Complex fires. The Camp Fire started in an area that had experienced 13 large wildfires since 1999. The report stated, "the greatest risk to the ridge communities is from an east wind driven fire that originates above the communities and blows downhill through developed areas." In 2005, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) released a fire management plan for the region, which warned that the town of Paradise was at risk for an ember-driven conflagration similar to the Oakland firestorm of 1991. It is also the fourteenth-deadliest wildfire in the world and the seventh-deadliest U.S. The Camp Fire was the deadliest wildfire in the United States since the Cloquet fire in 1918 until it was surpassed by the Lāhainā fire's 101 fatalities in 2023. On June 16, 2020, the utility pleaded guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter. On December 6, 2019, the utility made a settlement offer of $13.5 billion for the wildfire victims the offer covered several devastating fires caused by the utility, including the Camp Fire. The same month, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), the utility company responsible for the faulty power line, filed for bankruptcy, citing expected wildfire liabilities of $30 billion. The Camp Fire also cost over $150 million in fire suppression costs, bringing the total cost of the fire to $16.65 billion. By January 2019, the total damage was estimated at $16.5 billion one-quarter of the damage, $4 billion, was not insured. The towns of Magalia and Butte Creek Canyon were also largely destroyed. The towns of Paradise and Concow were almost completely destroyed, each losing about 95% of their structures. It covered an area of 153,336 acres (620.5 km 2 239.6 sq mi), and destroyed more than 18,000 structures, with most of the destruction occurring within the first four hours. The Camp Fire caused 85 civilian fatalities, with one person still missing as of August 2, 2019, and injured 12 civilians and five firefighters. With the arrival of the first winter rainstorm of the season, the fire reached 100 percent containment after seventeen days on November 25. Drought was a factor: Paradise, which typically sees five inches of autumn rain by November 12, had only received one-seventh of an inch by that date in 2018. After exhibiting extreme fire spread, fireline intensity, and spotting behaviors through the rural community of Concow, an urban firestorm formed in the foothill town of Paradise. Ignited by a faulty electric transmission line, the fire originated above several communities and an east wind drove the fire downhill through developed areas. Named after Camp Creek Road, its place of origin, the fire started on Thursday, November 8, 2018, in Northern California's Butte County. The Camp Fire was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California's history, and the most expensive natural disaster in the world in 2018 in terms of insured losses.
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