About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 11, 2018)
TODAYS TOP HEADLINES The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Sunday, November 11,2018 3A ‘Nothing here’ in Paradise Homes still burning as 14 more bodies found, bringing death toll from wildfires to 23 NOAH BERGER I Associated Press Abandoned cars line Pearson Road in Paradise, Calif., on Saturday, Nov. 10. ‘We knew Paradise was a prime target for forest fire over the years. We’ve had ’em come right up to the city limits — oh yeah — but nothing like this.’ Jan MacGregor, Resident of Paradise Fire burns modest homes, Malibu mansions in SoCal BY GILLIAN FLACCUS, DON THOMPSON AND PAUL ELIAS Associated Press PARADISE — The air thick with smoke from a ferocious wildfire that was still burning homes Saturday, residents who stayed behind to try to save their property or who managed to get back to their neighborhoods in this Northern California town found cars incinerated and homes reduced to rubble. People surveyed the dam age and struggled to cope with what they had lost. Entire neighborhoods were leveled and the business dis trict was destroyed by a blaze that threatened to explode again with the same fury that largely incinerated the foot hill town. Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said Saturday 14 addi tional bodies were found, bringing the death toll from the blaze to 23. He said an additional search and rescue team was being brought in to search for remains. The flames burned down more than 6,700 buildings, almost all of them homes, making it California’s most destructive wildfire since record-keeping began. There were 35 people still missing. Sheriff’s deputies recov ered human remains from at least five homes as they went house-to-house in Para dise looking for the missing. It was unclear if the remains were in addition to the nine fatalities reported by the Butte County Sheriff’s Office. More firefighters headed to the area Saturday, with wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour expected, raising the risk of conditions simi lar to when the fire started Thursday, said Alex Hoon with the National Weather Service. The blaze grew to 156 square miles, but crews made gains and it was par tially contained, officials said. People sidestepped metal that melted off cars and Jet- Skis and donned masks as they surveyed ravaged neigh borhoods despite an evacua tion order for all of Paradise, a town of 27,000 founded in the 1800s. Some cried when they saw nothing was left. Jan MacGregor, 81, got back to his small two-bed- room home in Paradise with the help of his firefighter grandson. He found his home leveled — a large metal safe and some pipe work from his septic system the only recog nizable traces. The safe was punctured with bullet holes from guns inside that went off in the scorching heat. He has lived in Paradise for nearly 80 years, moving there in 1939 when he said the town had just 3,000 peo ple and was nicknamed Pov erty Ridge. The fire was not a complete surprise, he said. “We knew Paradise was a prime target for forest fire over the years,” he said. “We’ve had 'em come right up to the city limits — oh yeah — but nothing like this,” he said. MacGregor said he proba bly wouldn’t rebuild: “I have nothing here to go back to.” Homes and other build ings were still burning, and fire crews were trying to extinguish those blazes, said Scott McLean, a captain with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Officials warned firefighters to wear their helmets and be careful of falling trees. Abandoned, charred vehi cles cluttered the main thor oughfare, evidence of the panicked evacuation as the wildfire tore through Thurs day. The dead were found mostly inside their cars or outside vehicles and homes. Five of the dead panicked when they couldn’t escape by car because their route was cut off by a wall of fire, said Gabriel Fallon, who rode out the blaze with his parents to care for the horses, cows and livestock on their 10-acre farm in Paradise. The group turned the other way and dashed down the street until it turned into dirt and passed the Fallons’ farm, he said. One of the drivers stopped and asked Fallon if the direction they were going would lead them to safety. Fallon said he shook his head as the fire roared closer. The motorists parked at the end of the road. On Satur day, the charred shells of the five cars remained where they had been parked. Fallon went back to his property, where he, and his parents and their animals weathered the fire with a garden hose. The fire con sumed their home, but left the barn intact. “I was scared as hell,” said Fallon, 42. “I didn’t know if I was going to die.” His mother, Cathy Fallon, tries not to think of what she lost when her house burned to the ground. Two dogs and nine cats died. She also lost her great-grandmother’s mandolin and end table. “I just can’t think about it,” she said, beginning to cry. “The thing that hurts the most is that I lost my cats.” Elinor “Jeannie” Wil liams, 86, was not among the nine victims of the blaze but died as she waited to be airlifted from an evacuated hospital where she was being treated for a head injury. She was dying, and the family expected to lose her in a few days, said her step daughter, Lisa. Still, her death has been hard on her 84-year-old father, Robert, who also may have lost his home, she said. “He’s lost, he’s confused, he’s trying to hang in there,” she said. “It’s hitting him hard. Everything is gone, including his wife.” Two destructive wildfires also burned in Southern California , tearing through Malibu mansions and work ing-class suburban homes and killing two people. State officials put the total number of people forced from their homes by Cali fornia’s fires at more than 200,000. Evacuation orders included the entire city of Malibu that is home to some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. President Donald Trump issued an emergency dec laration providing federal funding for fires on both ends of the state. He later threat ened to withhold payments to California, claiming its for est management is “so poor.” Trump tweeted Saturday that “there is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly fires in California.” Trump said “billions of dol lars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!” California Governor-elect Gavin Newsom responded on Twitter that this was “not a time for partisanship.” “This is a time for coordi nating relief and response and lifting those in need up,” he said. Trump took a more empa- thetic tone later in the day, tweeting sympathies for fire fighters, people who have fled their homes and the families of those killed by the flames. MALIBU — Two peo ple were found dead as a pair of wildfires stretched from inland canyons to the Pacific in Southern Cali fornia on Saturday, leaving people sifting through the remains of both mansions and modest homes for any thing they had left. The two bodies were found severely burned inside a car on a long resi dential driveway in Mal ibu, Los Angeles County sheriff’s Chief John Bene dict said. The home is on a winding stretch of Mulhol- land Highway with steep panoramic views, where on Saturday the roadway was littered with rocks, a few large boulders and fallen power lines, some of them still on fire. Most of the surrounding structures were leveled. The deaths brings to 25 the number of people killed in the state’s wild fires in the past few days, with 23 found dead in a Northern California wildfire. Firefighters have saved thousands of homes despite working in “extreme, tough fire conditions that they said they have never seen in their life,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said. Those vicious condi tions on Friday night gave way to calm Saturday, with winds reduced to breezes. No new growth was reported on the larger of the two fires, which stands at 109 square miles, and firefighters now have the blaze 5 percent contained. Progress also came against the smaller fire, prompting Ventura County officials to allow people in a handful of communities to return to their homes. Hundreds of thousands across the region remain under evacuation orders, and could stay that way for days as winds pick up again. Osby said losses to homes were significant but did not say how many had burned. Officials said earlier that 150 houses had been destroyed and the number would rise. Fire burned in famously ritzy coastal spots like Mal ibu , where Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian West, Guillermo del Toro and Martin Sheen were among those forced out of their homes amid a citywide evacuation order. Associated Press EARLY DEADLINES FOR THANKSGIVING DAY Because of the upcoming Thanksgiving Day holiday The Times will alter its advertising and legals deadline as follows: Retail Display Ads Publication Date Deadline The Times Thursday 11/22 Monday, 11/19,3:00pm Friday 11/23 Tuesday, 11/20,3:00pm Saturday 11/24 Tuesday, 11/20,3:00pm Sunday Life 11/25 Tuesday, 11/20,3:00pm Sunday R0P 11/25 Wednesday, 11/21, Noon Sunday Class 11/25 Wednesday, 11/21, Noon Monday 11/26 Wednesday, 11/21, Noon Lanier Life Sunday 11/25 Wednesday, 11/21,9:00am Classified Line Ads Publication Date Deadline The Times Thursday 11/22 Tuesday, 11/20,3:00pm Friday 11/23 Wednesday, 11/21, Noon Lanier Life Sunday 11/25 Wednesday, 11/21,9:00am Saturday 11/24 Wednesday, 11/21,3:00pm Sunday 11/25 Wednesday, 11/21,3:00pm Monday 11/26 Wednesday, 11/21,3:00pm Legal Ads Publication Date Deadline The Times Thursday 11/22 Monday, 11/19,5:00pm Friday 11/23 Tuesday, 11/20,5:00pm Saturday 11/24 Tuesday, 11/20,5:00pm Sunday 11/25 Tuesday, 11/20,5:00pm Monday 11/26 Tuesday, 11/20,5:00pm €he(£htw$ gainesvilletimes .com will be CLOSED Thursday, November 22 in observance of Thanksgiving. RINGO H.W. CHIU I Associated Press Alexander Tobolsky, right, and his girl friend Dina Arias, return to his home burned out by the fire in Malibu, Calif., Saturday, Nov. 10. UJ dental group': IrEWOTE Congratulations x Mrs. Herrin! Mrs. Jessica Herrin Media Specialist & EIP I Wazel Grove Elementary BGW Dental Group recently held a contest to find the region's Favorite Teacher. Our community nominated nine teachers and after receiving more than 800 votes, Jessica Herrin has been named this year's favorite teacher. BGW Dental group is pleased to award 42,500 to Hazel Grove Elementary School, designated for Mrs. Herrin's classroom. 678-582-8944 bgwdentalgroup.com 1215 Vine St. | Gainesville 1205 Friendship Rd. | Braselton
