California's Park Fire opens old wounds from devastating 2018 blaze: "It's just like Paradise all over again"
As the massive Park Fire approached Forest Ranch in Northern California's Butte County, homeowner Cindy Needham couldn't help but think of another devastating wildfire.
"It's just like Paradise all over again," Needham said of the small town devastated by the 2018 Camp Fire. "This is a major trigger. Everybody is saying that. The whole community is triggered. It's hard."
The 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise was California's deadliest and most destructive wildfire, killing nearly 90 people and destroying almost 19,000 buildings.
Six years later, the trauma caused by the Camp Fire still affects Needham and many other Butte County residents. The Park Fire, California's largest wildfire of the year and fourth-largest in state history, has cost at least one couple their home for the second time after they also lost their home in the Camp Fire.
For others, the Park Fire brought back some of Butte County's darkest memories.
"My daughter and her husband, we almost lost them in the Camp Fire," Needham said. "It came that close."
The Park Fire also led to an evacuation warning in Paradise, where Mark Anderson just moved back three weeks ago.
"I was having some flashbacks. Just going, 'Wow. This can't be happening again,'" Anderson said. "I haven't really been this emotional, at all. But this is kind of bringing everything up again. It was very traumatic."
Anderson said his narrow escape from Paradise in 2018 was something he'll never forget. A few weeks before the Camp Fire started, he bought a motorcycle after his most loyal and long-time customers commented on how dry the conditions across Butte County appeared to be.
"I bought a motorcycle so I'd have a quick escape if I ever needed it. Three weeks later, boom. There it is," he said. "People were running and screaming, parking their cars in the middle of the street."
Anderson rode his motorcycle towards the unincorporated Butte County community of Magalia, quickly realizing he was going to run out of fuel. He said any gas station he passed by was "surrounded with cars," so he kept driving.
"I felt like ol' [Nicolas] Cage on that Ghost Rider, just flying through the flames. I almost turned around," he said, referencing the 2007 movie of the same name about a motorcycle stuntman. "I kept on driving and there was a line of cars, all the way to Butte Meadows."
As Anderson approached the Bambi Inn in Forest Ranch, his motorcycle stopped because it ran out of gas.
"I'm glad I made it there because that bike was a big bike. I couldn't have pushed it or anything," Anderson said. "A guy siphoned gas out of his tank and gave me gas. I was able to get down to Chico and I made it, but it was a hairy trip."
'[The Park Fire] is the fastest [wildfire] I've seen going, besides Paradise, of course," said Thomas Neverkovec, owner of the Bambi Inn. "But that had 80-mile-per-hour winds on it."
Neverkovec, whose inn stayed open for crews fighting the Park Fire, spoke with CBS News Bay Area on Wednesday.
Anderson, a barber, lost his home and barbershop in the Camp Fire.
"That was going to be my retirement. That was going to be my final spot. Now, I realize nothing is final, for sure. Anything can happen and it makes me more humble," he said. "Ever since that happened, it's just been minute to minute, hour to hour, day to day, month to month, year to year. I haven't been really able to look forward until now."
After moving around, he returned to Paradise and stayed with his nephew. He now plans a move to Oroville and has a new job at a barbershop in Paradise.
For those who lost their livelihoods in the Park Fire, Anderson warned of the long recovery ahead and suggested displaced residents not hold in their emotions.
"I've been in kind of a holding pattern. Just kind of circling the airport, waiting for my clearance to land. Finally, it's happened," he said. "Hang in there and talk to somebody. Talk to people. Talk to your God. Talk to your best friend. Talk to your neighbor. Talk to anybody and get it out. It helps a lot. And that's hard for a lot of people. It was hard for me at first. But every word I say, I heal a little bit."
Back in Forest Ranch, the Park Fire passed by Needham's home without leaving any destruction. Many others in Forest Ranch weren't as lucky.
"I just sat in my driveway for about 10 minutes and just looked at the house. Like, wow. Ok, it's still here. It's still here," Needham said. "It hurt. It was such a relief, it hurt. And I finally allowed myself to cry."
Needham is grateful for her and her family's safety, her property that never burned down and her Forest Ranch neighborhood.
She's even more grateful for the firefighters on the frontlines.
"Everyone helps up here. It's the way it's supposed to be. We're so thankful to be a part of this community," she said. "We have shelter, but these [firefighters] who are up there, putting their lives on the line in these horrific situations. And they do it without even thinking about it. They just do it … I wish there was a bigger word than 'thank you.'"
