Paradise

One Town's Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire

By: Lizzie Johnson

Narrated by: Lizzie Johnson

Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

The definitive firsthand account of California’s Camp Fire, the nation’s deadliest wildfire in a century, Paradise is a riveting examination of what went wrong and how to avert future tragedies as the climate crisis unfolds.

“A tour de force story of wildfire and a terrifying look at what lies ahead.”—San Francisco Chronicle (Best Books of the Year)

On November 8, 2018, the people of Paradise, California, awoke to a mottled gray sky and gusty winds. Soon the Camp Fire was upon them, gobbling an acre a second. Less than two hours after the fire ignited, the town was engulfed in flames, the residents trapped in their homes and cars. By the next morning, eighty-five people were dead.

As a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, Lizzie Johnson was there as the town of Paradise burned. She saw the smoldering rubble of a historic covered bridge and the beloved Black Bear Diner and she stayed long afterward, visiting shelters, hotels, and makeshift camps. Drawing on years of on-the-ground reporting and reams of public records, including 911 calls and testimony from a grand jury investigation, Johnson provides a minute-by-minute account of the Camp Fire, following residents and first responders as they fight to save themselves and their town. We see a young mother fleeing with her newborn; a school bus full of children in search of an escape route; and a group of paramedics, patients, and nurses trapped in a cul-de-sac, fending off the fire with rakes and hoses.

In Paradise, Johnson documents the unfolding tragedy with empathy and nuance. But she also investigates the root causes, from runaway climate change to a deeply flawed alert system to Pacific Gas and Electric’s decades-long neglect of critical infrastructure. A cautionary tale for a new era of megafires, Paradise is the gripping story of a town wiped off the map and the determination of its people to rise again.

©2021 Lizzie Johnson (P)2021 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Immediate and emotionally devastating . . . Johnson works to balance the imperative of narrative tension with respect for the unimaginable tragedy, and the resulting work is worth the emotional toll of reading it.”—Los Angeles Times

“In this reportorial tour de force, Lizzie Johnson captures the orange-black hell of the Paradise wildfire in wrenching, skin-singeing detail. You can smell the smoke, feel the super-heated air. After reading this book I wanted to clear all brush and trees away from my home—and I live in Manhattan.”—Erik Larson, author of The Splendid and the Vile

“A masterful feat of reporting and climate-era storytelling. [Johnson] has taken the story of a rough-hewn town of retirees and Trumpers, population 27,000 (pre-fire), and turned it into a parable of suffering and loss, of love and heroism.”—Rolling Stone

Personalization of a terrible tragedy

We all remember seeing this horrific story unfold on the news. The author tells the complete story supported by facts and illustrated with stories of those most significantly impacted. Extremely well done.

Paradise

Wonderful book. So sad that is not a fictional book. My previous neighbors had moved away from Newark to their “retirement paradise” years ago. I am so heartbroken at the loss and deaths that gave resulted from this devastating fire, but do very grateful that my friends did survive. God bless them, and God bless everyone💜🙏💜🙏

Hard to listen to but could not stop.

Be aware this is what happened. So we'll done it made me cringe, cry, and want to talk to the people as I heard their stories.

A riveting account

The book covers the events of 2018 when a California wildfire burned down the town of Paradise, making it at the time the US' deadliest wildfire in a century. I read this as a part of a book club, we decided on this book only a few days after the horrible events of the Maui wildfires (2023) so reading it in the aftermath of those events also made it even more impactful. But also it drew attention to the book's description which says: "a riveting examination of what went wrong and how to avert future tragedies as the climate crisis unfolds".

The description of how the events unfolded is chilling and demonstrates how horribly things can go wrong in a situation like this, both with logistics and technology, not to mention the role that infrastructure and lack of maintenance played in this tragedy.

There are many heartbreaking passages but the list of casualties and their circumstances when found was extremely sad for me, a bit reminiscent of how I felt witnessing the victims of Pompeii.

All in all I felt the writing was good. It does a good job of relating both personal and public records of events.

Hands down amazing!

Lizzie did a phenomenal job writing this book as well as narrating it! The book packs more of a punch when the real author is reading it. The interviews she conducted, the stories she shared, and the carefully crafted way she wrote this book share the true devastation that Paradise went through.

From listening to this book alone, you can hear she cares about the topic, she cares about the people, and she wants to see change in the future when it comes to wildfire damage. I will always recommend this book, because it for every kind of person to read. My heart goes out to all of the victims of the 2018 wildfire, the ones proceeding and for all of those whose lives preventable and unpreventable wildfires will affect in the future.

Such a difficult story, but so well told.

As someone who works in public outreach for a fire agency in a wildfire prone area, this is a great piece of work that I recommend to every fire official, planning official, local leader, legislator, etc.

Haunted my dreams

Listening to this book on my morning walks haunted my dreams at night. It’s that good. I live not far from Paradise and still remember that first day vividly.

Exceptional Work

Lizzie Johnson unveils Corporate culpability and failings, life in a small town and traumatic memories of my own hellish escape from Paradise on November 8th, 2018. Her literary work illuminates the myriad of facts at the genesis of this fire through woven facets of the lives of many who experienced this harrowing event. Her storytelling brings this tragedy to life in a way that people who weren’t there will certainly feel like they were and feel extremely blessed that they were not.

Skillfully written page turner

Lizzie Johnson does a remarkable job of weaving together the detailed stories of a selection of Paradise community members and their diverse experiences - from the time they settled in the community to the time they were forced to flee. She injects explanations for extreme wildfire - climate change, forest management, PG&E culpability, settlement of urban/wild-land interface- in a way that is easy to digest and keeps the focus on the people and communities who are directly impacted. A must-read for anyone who wants to feel and understand the fire challenges the West’s forested rural communities face.

A world class nonfiction book

A suspense filled true history of the incineration of a town. And the courageous people who lived there. So incredibly touching. Thank you Lizzie Johnson for the years of your life you spent on this project. I especially loved how though you clearly have a point of view on the causes of this fire, you reported the facts and the science without trying to paint anyone as the villain of the piece. You made the causes of these fires and the fixes easy to understand. So difficult to implement though. God willing we as a people will begin this task.