Paradise: One Town's Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire

On November 8, 2018, the Camp Fire swept through Paradise, California, destroying the town in less than two hours. By the next morning, eighty-five people were dead. As a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, Lizzie Johnson witnessed the fire firsthand and documented its aftermath by visiting shelters, hotels, and makeshift camps. Using years of on-the-ground reporting and public records including 911 calls and grand jury testimony, Johnson provides a minute-by-minute account of the Camp Fire. She follows residents and first responders as they attempt to survive, including a young mother fleeing with her newborn, a school bus full of children seeking an escape route, and paramedics, patients, and nurses trapped in a cul-de-sac defending themselves with rakes and hoses. Beyond documenting the tragedy, Johnson investigates its root causes: climate change, a flawed alert system, and Pacific Gas and Electric's decades-long neglect of critical infrastructure. The book serves as a firsthand account of the nation's deadliest wildfire in a century and examines what went wrong and how future tragedies might be prevented.