PARADISE, Calif. -- As Poplar Bluff native Harold "Gene" Burns sat on the front deck of his Paradise home drinking his coffee on a recent morning he noticed the sky was cloudy and smoky with an orange hue in the east.
"I heard the news at 6:30 (a.m.); it was a small 10-acre fire, which, quite honestly, we don't concern ourselves about because we get a lot of fires out here," said Burns.
For 31 years, Burns and his wife, Diane, have lived in their Paradise home and contended with nearby wildfires.
"We've had one or two that have come close a couple of different times," Burns said. "(Fire personnel) have either gotten them under control or the wind cooperated."
But, on the morning of Nov. 8, there was no stopping or controlling the fire that would devour the town of Paradise and become the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century.
"This is one of those fires they've talked about in our community for years that finally happened," Burns said. "It's been said if we ever had a serious fire in town, the whole town would go."
Paradise, according to Burns, is surrounded by lots of acres of wilderness, with shrubs, bushes and 100-foot pine trees that "were just brittle as hell" for as "many miles as you can see" since there has been no rain in 200 days.
"Everything was a tinder box waiting for a match to be lit," said Burns.
This fire, he said, actually started in Pulga Gap, which is about four to five miles east of Paradise.
"We had 40- to 50-mile per hour wind gusts that morning, so within literally minutes, the fire was jumping," Burns said. "They said it was going 100 yards, which is the length of a football field, a minute.
"It was traveling that rapidly. There were spot fires all over town within the first hour from the winds."
By the time the fire got to the eastern edge of Paradise, Burns said, there were fires lighting up in its downtown.
"Wind was the biggest factor ... there were more fires than firemen," Burns said. "(Fires) were just popping up everywhere."
The fire "grew immensely, so quickly," said Burns. "It was unbelievable. I've never seen anything move so quick."
While on his deck at 7 a.m., Burns said, he had "embers and ash falling in my yard, my front deck and on myself ... that was only 30 minutes after the fire had been reported, which was several miles east of us.
"The embers were traveling, literally, a mile or two in the air and still landing lit at that point."
The Burnses' home was the "last house at the bottom of the canyon," said Diane Burns, whose son, Jimmy Jackson, and his family leased a home right next door.
Although the family would be evacuated like the other 27,000 Paradise residents, "we didn't get notice of that," Diane Burns said. "It wasn't on the TV or anything."
Diane Burns said she got a phone call from her daughter in Cottonwood, which is about 80 miles away, who had been told by her husband to call because it looked "like a big fire had started up there on the hill.
"When I looked out the upstairs window, I could see flames."
When Gene Burns went back out to the deck, "the sky had went from smoky to black. ... it was nothing but an orange hue in the sky."
"I called my son next door ... I said: 'We need to get our ----- out of this canyon. We didn't want to get pinned in," Gene Burns said. "That's why we were in such a hurry. You couldn't tell where the next (fire) would pop up."
Diane Burns said they didn't really take anything, but "stupid things you pick up on your way out the door. ... you're not thinking clearly."
One of those things Diane Burns grabbed as her husband's Purple Heart, something family members are "very excited" about.
Gene Burns had been awarded a Purple Heart after losing both of his legs serving in Vietnam as a U.S. Marine.
After throwing on clothes, "I got my cat in the car, and we took off," said Diane Burns, who described it as "eerie looking outside," literally black, as they prepared to leave.
As the vehicles were loaded, it was like midnight, Gene Burns said. "There was no evidence of sunshine; no evidence of sky. It was black smoke everywhere."
The family, Gene Burns said, caravaned out together in four vehicles.
"We were eager to get out of that particular sector ... but we hadn't gone two streets when everything came to an immediate and abrupt halt," Gene Burns said. "They were already bumper to bumper trying to get onto a major road, which would lead us to one of the exits."
Paradise, he said, only had three exit points.
When you start trying to evacuate thousands of people with limited exits, "it becomes gridlock really, really quickly," said Gene Burns. "We were bumper to bumper, inching along just getting out of town. ... There was nothing first responders could do; there was just too many of us."
There were vehicles, he said, lined up for miles in front of and behind him.
"At one point, we were headed toward a way out" on Neal Road that connects the foothills of Paradise to Chico, about 13 miles away, Gene Burns said.
But, "as we were sitting, waiting, bumper to bumper" to get to that road, "word was coming back from people walking around that Neal Road had been closed, that the fire was coming toward us," Gene Burns explained.
With "fire behind us, now in front of us, it really was hell I can assure you," said Gene Burns.
Some people got out of their vehicles to walk, but "they wouldn't have gotten very far," he said. "Fortunately, most stayed in their vehicles.
"Then, all of a sudden, God only knows why, the left lane opened up and started moving. I jumped over there and so did many behind me."
Although initially bumper to bumper leaving the canyon, the Burnses' vehicles became separated.
As officers were out directing traffic, "I saw my husband get directed to the right, and the next two cars got directed to the left," Diane Burns explained. "Then, there was me. I said: 'I can't go right?' He said: 'No, it's blocked up,' so I went to the left."
With her son-in-law directing her through what Diane Burns described as little towns, she eventually reached Interstate 5.
It was between 3 and 4 p.m., she said, when the family members met up at their predetermined location.
Although each arrived from different directions, "we were within five minutes of each other in Corning at a truck stop," she said. "... We didn't see daylight; it was just pitch black. It was really unreal."
As the Burns family made their escape, there was fire everywhere, Diane Burns said.
"When I passed the fire station, it was on fire," she said. "Across the street from that, a big pine tree was on fire. ... It was really a horrendous thing."
Propane tanks and houses were exploding, she said.
Debris was "hitting the side of my car, just chunks of flames," Diane Burns said. " ... That was one of the scary things because it went on and on, every couple of minutes (a tank) would blow up, then another house exploded."
There was not "one of us at one point or another that didn't have fire going on right beside the road or right beside our vehicle or 150 feet away a house exploding because a propane tank exploded," Gene Burns said.
Embers, he said, were "coming across your vehicle and on the road in front of you, ... The entire hillside coming up from the Chico area was on fire.
" ... In certain areas, you had to guess where the road was because the smoke was so thick you couldn't see. You just pray."
When Gene Burns and Jackson left, both had less than a full tank of gasoline.
"When you sit for two or three hours ... for that long, the gauge kept getting lower and lower," said Gene Burns, who indicated it taken between two and three hours to get out of town due to the gridlock.
Gene Burns said he and his son ended up stopping in the "little town" called Durham to find a gas station before "we got stranded and blocked thousands of cars behind us."
Gene Burns described his family as one of the luckier ones.
"Fortunately, most importantly, all our family got out," said Gene Burns. "... If we had waited any longer, I'm not sure we would have."
According to the Burnses' daughter, Jennifer Rood, the family her father was referring to included her brother's household of eight and extended family members; her dad's brother, Earl Burns, and his wife, Emma; and her niece/Jackson's eldest daughter and her family.
The Burnses are staying with their daughter, Darlene, in Cottonwood.
"It was great because she had a fifth-wheel (camper) for them (her brother's family), and she had a spare bedroom for us," Diane Burns said. "At least we had somewhere to go. Lots of people don't have nowhere to go."
The Walmart parking lot in Chico, according to what Diane Burns has been told, has turned into a tent city, with some sleeping on the ground.
"Walmart has been really nice; they let them go in and clean up in the morning," Diane Burns said. "They've given them things," like blankets.
Like so many, "we sort of walked out with nothing," Diane Burns said. "The people have been so giving from everywhere."
Diane Burns said their three daughters, who were not affected by the fires, have brought van loads of "just random things" for them.
"My one daughter is getting me a pair of slippers, a hair scrunchie, clothes," she said.
Prior to the fire, the Burnses had owned a split-level house, close to 2,500 square feet in size.
A picture of where their house was now "looks like in a movie (when) you see where they're imploded, where it all drops in the center," Diane Burns said. "(The house) is just a pile of ashes. I didn't even see my wood stove; it was like it was melted down."
Also gone are Gene Burns' Harley Davidson motorcycle that was left in the garage, and his wife's Mercedes parked out front.
"Like I told my wife, I can't think of anything that has that much sentimental attachment to me, but (her), and we're safe, so the rest of it can be replaced in time," said Gene Burns, who indicated he had what he feels is "adequate" insurance on his home
Its mortgage was paid off in 2017, "only to burn down in hours," he added.
The Burnses' son isn't so lucky as he didn't have renters insurance.
"They lost everything and will be starting from scratch," he said.
Paradise will be inhabitable for months, said Gene Burns, who indicated it will be a long rebuilding process.
"No one is even allowed back in town at this point; it's been a week (Thursday), although it seems like it was yesterday."
Who will return to Paradise is "left to be seen," he said. "We don't know. There are just thousands of people who have been dislodged from their homes.
"We'll wait and see who rebuilds or not."
Not only have the residents lost their homes, many have lost their incomes as well, he said.
"We're very fortunate," said Gene Burns, who survived two heart attacks earlier this summer. "... All our family is safe. My house was insured. It will come back together again."
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A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the Burns family, one for Gene at https://www.gofundme.com/4-families-lost-all-in-camp-fire and one for Earl at https://www.gofundme.com/2w9hst-paradise-fire