THE THING MOVED so fast, it was just like a matchbox. It just moved so fast. Nobody in my parish passed away because of the fire. There are about 60 or 70 families that identify with our parish, and most of those people lost their homes. I didn’t know my own house was burned until about 48 hours in—that’s when I got that confirmation.
If you walked through Paradise today, you’d see debris, burnt-out cars, and a huge amount of devastation. Burnt trees. Homes are gone. I mean it’s pretty much like a war zone. There’s a pastors meeting up there once a month, which I haven’t gone to every time because I find it incredibly hard to go up there.
People’s lives have been changed—pretty much changed forever. I talk to a woman probably four times a week and she’s still living in her car. And I get her a hotel room about once a week to try to take away some of the struggle. I wish I could do it five times a week but I only have so many resources.
I think the hardest part is the grief from all the displacement because of the devastation. Biblically, you know, it’s the whole diaspora thing. It was so profound right away just identifying with that story of the exiles who were living away from their homeland for 70 years. And then when they went back, everything was different. And not everybody went back, kind of like us. Most people are not going back.
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