Mountain Fire destroys woman's home, six years after she survived the most destructive fire in California history
On Nov. 8, 2018, a day after Charlotte Edwards' birthday, the deadly and destructive Camp Fire destroyed her home and wiped out the Northern California town of Paradise.
"The second we got in the car there was one way out of that place," she said. "We were stuck in traffic for about an hour, watching the sky as it got blacker and blacker."
Last year, she felt like she had finally gotten back on track after moving back in with her family's home in Camarillo
"I felt like I was finally OK since the last fire," Edwards said. "I finally got settled back home with my family."
However, on Nov. 6, six years after surviving the most destructive wildfire in California history, Edwards had to relive the nightmare when the Mountain Fire swept through her family's Camarillo home.
"I've been through this before and I just looked at everything I had," she said. "I just replaced this — this is all a replacement from the last fire."
Edwards and her family left with only the clothes on their back and their three cats.
"All of a sudden Charlotte jumps up, and says, 'I've been through this before. I'm packing up now,'" her stepfather Charlie Odell said. "Two minutes after that, smoke starts coming through."
Odell admired his stepdaughter for her resiliency after enduring two disasters.
"It breaks my heart," he said. "She's a very resilient strong kid but when you face this kind of devastation you just wonder why me?"
Edwards said she is grateful that they are together and unharmed.
After experiencing the loss from both of the devastating wildfires, Edwards said she wants her parents to rebuild and that Ventura County is her home.
The family said they have fire insurance and hope to rebuild their home within the next two years.
Firefighters have contained 36% of the Mountain Fire after it burned nearly 21,000 acres in Ventura County.
