PARADISE LOST

[tuffythepug]

I hate to put a damper on the fun things we discuss here on the forum but I felt that I had to at least say a few words about a fire near my home.  When I say "near" it's actually 85 miles away.  The town of Paradise, California has been leveled in a forest fire that has brought nearly every building in town to rubble and ash.   Over 4 thousand homes lost.   death toll stands at 42 and they are still looking for many more who have not been accounted for.   In my working days I spent a fair amount of time in that little mountain town.  The company I represented built a few bank vaults there.  They may be the only structures still standing at this point.  Among the losses was a small used guitar shop that always had interesting and unusual inventory and a room to plug in and play to your hearts content.  Also a guitar builder, Wayne Charvel lost his home, his shop and his entire inventory of guitars.  Just a couple of the thousands of stories that tug at your heartstrings.  Unclerob has kept us reminded of the devastation by hurricanes in Florida.  On both coasts we are being subjected to disasters that boggle the mind.  Here in my town the air is so thick with smoke schools and businesses are closing and people are warned that the air is extremely unhealthy.    My eyes are burning and my throat is raw, breathing is unusually hard for me.  My doctor told me yesterday to stay inside til this dissipates.  I can't imagine how hard this is for the people who live much closer.  My wife is going to go to WalMart later and buy some gift cards to send to shelters set up for the aid of those left homeless and devastated.  Wayne Charvel has set up a go fund me thing so I will probably try to help him out a bit too.   Things like this make you appreciate the small things in life.   People will soon be trying to figure out how to start their lives over when they have no home or any job to return too.   These are sad days.   Please remember them in your thoughts and prayers.
Thanks
And now, back to discussions about guitars.   

[unclrob]

We know whats coming when there is a hurrican,these fire's have a mind of there own.I have a few friends that have sent me there guitars and as always if you need to send them to a safe place I still have room to store stuff till life settles back to some type of normal.As I'm not a praying man all I can do is send out best cozmic thoughts for all and say fire isn't anything to play with get out of its way as fast as possable.

[mike in lytle]

Gerard Van der Leun has been writing about Paradise on his site AmericanDigest.org.
He has written about Paradise often. He grew up there.
There are fire videos posted. He lost everything, and has moved in with his mother in Chico.
Scary stuff.
Mike

[ducktrapper]

Terrible.

[Riverbend]

I can only imagine the nightmare these poor folks are living. Many years ago as a volunteer firefighter I worked on a few small remote forest fires far away from homes or businesses. Those were bad enough. Burning away lives and lifetimes' work is a cruel heartbreak.     

[DaveyO]

Yes,I'm in so cal and the fires prevented me from seeing my daughter in Santa Barbara this past weekend
I pray for all those affected,I can't imagine losing my home or that
Kind of devastation ,very hard time indeed
Dave

[tuffythepug]

Now they have updated to over 7,000 homes and businesses lost....49 deaths.  Smoke still trapped in the low-lying areas

[Silence Dogood]

Incredibly sad.  California is such a beautiful place.

[C-10-4-me]

Except for the loss of life, there aren't too many things more devastating than losing everything you own when your home is reduced to a pile of ashes. Happened to our family when I was a kid and it devastated us for a long time, even after our house was rebuilt. Such a horrific and tragic event that thousands are now facing. The size and scope of it is nearly incomprehensible .

[tuffythepug]

Except for the loss of life, there aren't too many things more devastating than losing everything you own when your home is reduced to a pile of ashes. Happened to our family when I was a kid and it devastated us for a long time, even after our house was rebuilt. Such a horrific and tragic event that thousands are now facing. The size and scope of it is nearly incomprehensible .

I'm sorry to hear about your loss when you were a kid. I'm sure it was, as you say, devastating.  There were a lot of retirees living in Paradise.  I'd even thought about moving there myself once.   For many it's too late to start over.   death toll now at near 70.   

[headsup]

tragedy all over, Paradise for too many- is lost.
and in many hearts and kin as well

In my part of the world, folks are complaining because it's snowing.
I ask if they think Paradise is a better option.

They shut up right quick, so they do.
pray for the lost ones everywhere.