Thompson Fire evacuees eager to return to Oroville homes as containment rises
OROVILLE -- An aggressive fire fight started to pay off Wednesday as hardly any smoke filled the sky from the Thompson Fire, burning since Tuesday morning in north Oroville.
Cal Fire last reported the fire at 3,568 acres and at 7% containment.
Still, progress has been made as Cal Fire said fire activity significantly slowed Wednesday. Their main focus became finding all hotspots and making sure there is no new fire spread within its perimeter.
Crews from all across the region are working around the clock to get the estimated 28,000 people still ordered from their homes back home as soon as possible.
"There's the uncertainty factor. You don't know if you're going home. If you're going to stay here for a week. You don't know anything," Doug Willmeroth said.
Willmeroth was forced from his home in a mandatory evacuation zone near Kelly Ridge on Tuesday. He evacuated to the Butte County shelter at Oroville Church of the Nazarene.
"I have tremendous respect for these firefighters and all. I'd just like to have some idea of what's happening," Willmeroth said.
Because the Vietnam veteran has his dog Dodge with him, he slept in the bed of his car outside the shelter Tuesday night.
"They've come by on a regular basis to make sure he has cold water and such," Willmeroth said as temperatures swelled to around 110 degrees Wednesday afternoon.
Alongside evacuees at the shelter were volunteers who showed up simply to help. Stephen Murray was one of them.
"You're always on edge. 'Did my house make it? Did it burn?' " Murray reflected.
He is a Camp Fire survivor himself. He rebuilt his Paradise home and started a non-profit Coral Apple Foundation to help wildfire victims.
"After the Camp Fire, I had nothing. I lost my job, lost my house. Yet, I had my community. That's what this is all about," Murray said.
Murray showed up to the shelter Wednesday armed with a pallet full of water and sodas and was followed in by a food truck eager to feed evacuees.
"It takes a village to do this kind of thing. I couldn't do it if I didn't have help," Murray said.
He even went into areas of fire risk Tuesday and worked to free trapped livestock.
"These houses are gonna go up any minute. I know it's not worth my life I'm gonna hear about it but I tried," Murray can be heard saying on a Facebook live video.
Cal Fire has given no official number yet for how many structures have burned in the Thompson Fire but CBS13 crews captured footage of several homes burning Tuesday night, some along Canyon Drive.
Murray even went so far as to help Willmeroth and his dog, Dodge, secure a hotel room for three nights thanks to his network of support. The duo went on their way to get out of the heat Wednesday evening.
"It's basically one fire survivor to another," Murray said.
Also at the shelter to help was the American Red Cross and the Global Empowerment Mission (GEM). GEM formed its chapter in Chico after the Camp Fire. Each of its staff members are Camp Fire survivors eager to pay it forward.
The group was passing out free water and hygiene kits at the shelter.
"I just tell them it's not easy. Take one day at a time and hope everything goes well. You have to count every day as a blessing," Jessie Ingalls said.
Cal Fire told CBS13 it had no estimation for when people will be cleared to go back to their homes but crews are working quickly to make that possible.