“Camp Fire” may sound like a very innocent thing, but this happens to be the name of the most destructive and deadliest wildfire since the 1918’s Cloquet fire.
It had only been recently 100% contained by firefighters, and its aftermath left a horrific 153,000 acres and 14,000 northern Californian homes completely burnt to ashes.
To be clear, this doesn’t mean the fire has been extinguished – it is still raging on, and will continue to do so for months.
It simply means that there is now a protective line between the regions engulfed by fire and the rest of the state.
In such a time of turmoil and anguish, it is understandable that our hearts are heavy and feel burdened.
This is, after all, a heartbreaking situation to be in, and there is only so much we can feel before we are overwhelmed by it all.
It is then we ought to look to the silver lining in these gray clouds so that we are able to push forward and move on.
Otherwise, we would probably simply drown in despair and lose all hope.
One of these uplifting stories of hope is the miraculous survival of Heather Roebuck and her newborn daughter.
Roebuck had gotten incredibly unlucky – the fire was engulfing the town of Paradise, and had just reached the local hospital.
Everyone had already evacuated beforehand. Roebuck had just delivered her newborn baby daughter via Cesarean and was stitched up in a hurry before she was transported into an ambulance.
It seemed like they were too late. The ambulance had only gone half a mile before the heat and the fire set it ablaze.
Roebuck thought she was a goner – thanks to the recent C-section, her entire lower half was numb, rendering her unable to walk.
She made a call to her husband, trying to get her last words out, but her pediatrician had other ideas and refused to call it quits there and then.
In a move that would save this new mother’s life, the pediatrician grabbed a backboard and placed Roebuck on it, before dragging her out onto the streets.
There, Roebuck was moved into the shelter of the house with the ambulance’s other patients under the instruction of David Hawks, Paradise Fire Chief.
This then became the moment where hopelessness turned into grim determination to survive.
A change seemed to have swept over the group. The nurses and paramedics who were previously certain of their demise and were making farewell calls were now following the Fire Chief’s instructions.
In the end, thanks to everyone’s efforts, their shelter was the only one that made it. By the time of their rescue, all the other houses in the area had been burned down save theirs.
In such a time of despair and anguish, it is wonderful and relieving to hear that at least there is a story of hope and rescue.
Roebuck has managed to be reunited with her husband and family and is now safe and sound, thanks to the brave efforts of those around her during that deadly wildfire.
SEE ALSO:
A Little Girl Waved Our Car Down. When She Pointed To The Cliff Our Hearts Dropped.
