Guardian's Moment-By-Moment Coverage Of Paradise & Camp Fire - Absolutely Terrifying
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The air conditioner was running full blast, yet the windows were hot enough to burn skin. Trying to keep the atmosphere light, Pierce put on music. Celine Dion’s song Ashes came on, and he skipped it. Instead they sang along to Peter Gabriel’s In Your Eyes. A Volkswagen Beetle passed Pierce’s truck and caught fire. Its driver jumped out and ran.
Cars, some abandoned, now completely blocked the road, and when a fire truck pulled up next to the Toyota, Pierce’s colleagues sought refuge in the cab. But he stayed: he hoped the road might somehow clear, and he didn’t want to trap anyone else behind him by leaving his own vehicle.
Soon the firefighters began covering their windows of their truck with heat-reflective blankets – their last resort when surrounded by fire. Pierce recorded a video for his family and friends, and buried it deep in his center console, hoping that it would survive if he did not. He expected that flames would overtake his truck in minutes. Listening to an acoustic version of A-ha’s Take on Me, he put his hands on the wheel and sang along to the chorus, trying to blot out the whirls of fire outside the window.
Pierce made it. A bulldozer miraculously appeared and began clearing abandoned cars to create a path out. By 10.30am, Pierce was back at the hospital, helping to set up a triage center and treating incoming patients. Pitman also eventually made it off the ridge with her students – a journey that was usually 20 minutes took over three hours. On TV, she watched footage of her school burning.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/20/last-day-in-paradise-california-deadliest-fire-untold-story-survivors