![]() ![]() “We saw people crashing into one another, abandoning their cars with everything they could carry and running as fast as they could.” “There were explosions every few seconds, like we were in the middle of a war,” my aunt said. Sobbing, she reached for tissue while remembering the horror that surrounded her during the evacuation. Mary clung to her mother’s words for strength and stayed focused on getting out, even though the world around her seemed to be spiraling into chaos. “She told me she had prayed for us and knew we would be coming home.” However, after Eric’s critical words, Sylvia agreed to flee and the Gowins’ stayed on her bumper to make sure she got out safely.ĭuring their second attempt to escape, Mary called her mother to say goodbye. It had my wedding rings in it and my husband’s and my Army dog tags.”Īccording to Sylvia, the fire destroying her home felt like ripping open the scar of her husband’s death, and she was not ready to relive that pain. “It took me so long to even leave to evacuate because I was desperately looking to find a blue metal box. “Paradise was my home for 39 years,” Sylvia said. Silvia’s husband passed away 10 years ago and she couldn’t bear to part with the home they loved so dearly. “I had already made up my mind that I wasn’t going to leave, so Eric is my hero.” “If Eric had not said ‘You’re getting in your car now or I’m picking you up and putting you in my truck,’ I would have died in my home,” Sylvia said. It was at this time the neighbor Sylvia Broyles, 75, was going back to her home after trying to evacuate and being stuck in bottleneck traffic unable to escape. In order to make sure they had enough fuel, the Gowins’ made a bold move and sped back to their home to quickly load into another, more fueled vehicle they had planned to leave behind. They had sat in the traffic for over an hour when she felt an intense panic overwhelm her-she running out of gas. Mary recalled moving at a snail’s pace to try and get out of town and it fried her nerves, to say the least. From my perspective on Beale, it looked like the mushroom cloud aftermath of an atomic bomb. I could see a house down the street from ours catching and that is when we knew we were going to lose everything.”Īround this time, I could see the plume of smoke coming from the mountain. ![]() Huge charred debris and embers flew from everywhere. “There was thick, black smoke and ash falling like snow. When your life is at stake it can become very easy to leave behind animals, but the cats and dogs are just as much of a family to my aunt and uncle as any other relative. She raced home and tried to remain calm so that she could coax her three cats and three dogs into carriers, then into the truck. my husband sent me a picture from Skyway Road and it looked like a volcano was erupting.” when I started getting calls from neighbors, coworkers, and then my husband about evacuating Paradise,” Aunt Mary said. The Northern California “Camp Fire” to date, has taken the lives of 86 people, burned 153 thousand acres, and completely decimated close to 19 thousand structures-most of which were homes, to include the home of my Aunt Mary and Uncle Eric Gowins.įor my family, it was truly an end-of-days scene as they, and thousands others, rushed in a frenzied panic to grab what they could and escape the flames. 8 as the deadliest fire in California history ravaged her town of Paradise. The town is on fire and I don’t think we’re going to make it out,’” said my aunt Mary Gowins, who fled for her life, Nov. “I called my mom while we were being evacuated and I told her ‘Mama, I love you. ![]()
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