Nurses scramble to save patients, themselves from California fire

Editor's Note

At 7:30 am, Thursday November 8, With the Camp Fire raging through Paradise, California, staff at Adventist Health Feather River Hospital in Paradise were ordered to evacuate patients and flee themselves, the November 11 nbcnews.com reports.

After helping load patients into every vehicle they could find, surgical nurses Nichole Jolly and Karen Davis jumped in their own vehicles to flee, only to be trapped by gridlock traffic, dense smoke, and approaching flames.

In this report, Jolly recounts her struggle to survive after her car was rear-ended and pushed into a ravine. Left with no option but to run, and with her pant legs on fire and the bottom of her shoes melting, Jolly found her way to Davis’ truck. She banged on the windows, but there was no answer. The handles on Davis’ truck had melted.

Running ahead and praying that the hot air she was breathing would not be her last, Jolly reached firefighters who extinguished her burning pant legs and returned her to the hospital, where she was reunited with Davis.

While she was gone, the parking lot had become a makeshift triage, and about 50 people and five or six dogs had come to the hospital because they had no other place to go. When the hospital roof caught on fire, those remaining were forced to evacuate again. Jolly and Davis got into a physician’s car and drove through thick smoke until the air opened up.

Both Jolly and Davis lost their homes and a significant portion of the hospital was destroyed. The death toll as of November 12 was 31, with more than 200 unaccounted for. The Camp Fire is considered the most destructive fire in the state’s history.