A little after 6:25 am on November 8, 2018, a 911 dispatcher received the first report of a fire near the Poe Dam in northern California. Nineteen minutes later firefighters caught sight of what would become known as the Camp Fire. Drought had dried out plants in the area, and strong winds were blowing in the direction of Paradise, a town 10 miles to the southeast. “This has got potential for a major incident,” fire chief Matt McKenzie reported back to incident command.
An hour later hot embers were raining down on the south side of Paradise, sparking spot fires in advance of the main front. Within 40 minutes of