Camp Fire becomes deadliest in California’s history

Camp+Fire+becomes+deadliest+in+Californias+history

By Ike Perl

The Camp Fire in Butte County has been growing in size since it started at 6:30 a.m. on November 8.

The Butte County Sheriff Department sent out their first evacuation notice on Twitter about an hour after the fire started. The notice read “EVACUATION ORDER: Due to a fire in the area, an evacuation order has been issued for the town of Pulga. If assistance is needed in evacuating, call 911.” The sheriff department has continued to send out warnings and orders to the surrounding neighborhoods.

According to CBS News, the fire has spread across a total of 117,000 acres and has continued to spread at a rate of roughly 1 football field per second. Along with the increasing size of the fire, this fire has broken the record for California’s deadliest fire and has already claimed 48 people and continues to claim more, at least 6,500 homes burned down, about 8,000 firefighters battling the evergrowing fire, and roughly 228 people still missing.

Not only is the fire affecting Butte County and the surrounding communities, but the fire has affected the lives of those in Marin County. The air quality has been the worse it has been in a long time and it has made bay area residents take precaution by wearing scarves and masks to avoid inhaling the harmful blanket of smoke.

Students’ families have also been put into chaos from the fire, which caused senior Nikolas Manrique’s cousin to lose almost of of his possessions and his home. “He had 20 minutes to pack anything [he] had,” Manrique said. He is currently living with his mother and looking for trailer homes.

This has been one of the most horrific fires California has ever seen and it continues to grow. Thousands have been displaced from their homes, nearly 50 dead, and smoke that has affected nearly all of Northern California.

This article was published on November 8 and most recently updated on November 14.