The Apache and Park Fire Missions:
Another Round of Disaster Relief in
Northern California's Butte County
Written by Christina Chang and Ida Eva Zielinska
Published #74 | Fall 2024 Issue
A Tzu Chi USA Northwest Region volunteer stands before the daunting devastation caused by the Park Fire that ignited on July 24, 2024, and escalated into the latest large-scale wildfire disaster in Northern California’s Butte County, knowing how much love and care the survivors will need. Photo/Judy Liao
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I got a phone call about a grass fire in the backyard. By the time I got home, the houses were completely on fire.
Seeing his home ablaze was just the start of Tyler Dayton’s trauma, as his and other houses would be quickly reduced to rubble and ash by the flames – consumed by what the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) named the Apache Fire. The wildfire started at 7:00 PM on June 24, 2024, at Apache Hill Road and Crestmont Avenue near the small town of Palermo in Butte County, Northern California, and burned 691 acres, destroying 14 structures and damaging two before it was fully contained five days later, on June 29.
Once CAL FIRE re-opened the wildfire-impacted regions that day, a Tzu Chi USA team drove to remote mountainous areas to assess the situation and plan relief efforts. The team comprised Baba Kauna Mujamal, Suzanne Morrison, and Jessica Morrison, volunteers from Tzu Chi USA’s Chico Recovery Center in Chico – the most populous city in Butte County – and Minjhing Hsieh, Executive Director of Tzu Chi USA’s Northwest Region who came from San Jose to join them. What they saw was heartbreaking, to say the least: homes incinerated, gone forever, families gravely displaced.
I have a large family, a family of ten, and my whole 12 acres burned down We don’t know where to go or what to do to find help.
After her home burned down overnight, Sadhana Unaria desperately needed assistance. When Tzu Chi volunteers came to this outlying locale and met her, since she had not heard of the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation before, she assumed they were just there to look at the damages, hardly expecting to receive direct aid soon after.
Another Apache Fire survivor the team met, Daulton McCalla, was also in a dire situation after the wildfire destroyed his residence. Four individuals, including himself, were now sheltering in his small vehicle. In late June, a heat wave hit California, with daytime temperatures exceeding 110 degrees Fahrenheit, making their living conditions seem unimaginable.
Tzu Chi provided a disaster relief distribution for Apache Fire survivors on July 14 at the African American Family & Cultural Center in Oroville, a venue secured thanks to the American Red Cross, a long-term Tzu Chi USA partner. Seven families came to receive cash cards, Tzu Chi eco-blankets, and supplies.
You are the only organization that helped us. You gave us food, clothes, even a tent, everything. We really appreciate you guys.
McCalla was unaware that even more aid was coming. Tzu Chi volunteer Baba Kauna Mujamal had taken McCalla’s housing problem to heart, and a friend, touched by Tzu Chi’s dedication to helping the survivors, donated a trailer for use as a shelter. On July 19, Stephen Murray, himself a wildfire disaster survivor, made the one-hour trip to deliver it. Receiving the unexpected gift, McCalla was immensely grateful and in awe. “You guys are doing so much good,” he said, “You must be a very big organization to be able to help me so much, which means you must be doing a lot for the whole world.”
Looking back at the mission, Tzu Chi USA Northwest Region Executive Director Minjhing Hsieh remarked, “The Apache Fire distribution was small yet cozy, allowing the survivors to pour out their feelings about the disaster and speak out about the support they need. It also gave them a deeper understanding of Tzu Chi.”
Many in Butte County already know Tzu Chi, as this is hardly its first disaster relief mission here, nor will it be the last. Unfortunately, a record-setting wildfire disaster was just around the corner, and Tzu Chi USA’s disaster relief team in Northern California would leap into action anew.
Butte County’s Wildfire Woes
“Located in Northern California, where the fertile valley floor meets the recreation-rich Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges, Butte County exemplifies how seemingly contrasting characteristics – valleys and mountains, rural communities and urban centers, farms, and cities – come together perfectly,” states Explore Butte County, a non-profit organization that champions tourism in the region, on its website. And yet, this hidden gem has suffered extensive losses due to wildfires.
According to “‘Just Crummy’: Why California’s Butte County Keeps Getting Hit by Big Wildfires,” a San Francisco Chronicle article dated August 4, 2024, “Fire has scorched about 40% of Butte County since 2000. Since 2020, three of the 15 largest wildfires in state history have ignited in Butte County and then burned across vast swaths of the Sierra and southern Cascades, collectively scorching nearly 1.7 million acres.”
In its August 15, 2024, article, “Half Their Land Burned in a Decade: The California Counties Constantly on Fire,” The New York Times lists those three historic catastrophes that impacted Butte County: the 2018 Camp Fire that “razed the town of Paradise and killed 85 people, becoming the state’s deadliest fire to date,” the 2020 North Complex Fires, that “destroyed more than 2,300 structures and killed more than a dozen people,” and the 2021 Dixie Fire, which “grew so large that it became the first fire to leap over the Sierra Nevada mountains.”
And then, on July 24, 2024, just outside Chico, and around 15 miles from the town of Paradise, tragically destroyed in the deadly 2018 Camp Fire, another historic blaze, which CAL FIRE named the Park Fire, ignited and quickly grew to become the fourth-largest wildfire in California state history. Tzu Chi USA’s Northwest Region volunteers were ready to mount relief quickly, as, in response to the Camp Fire, Tzu Chi had established the Chico Recovery Center to facilitate mid-to-long-term recovery services to individuals and families impacted by that calamity, which, beyond the fatalities it caused, destroyed over 18,000 structures, leaving households struggling to recover for years afterward. While the Recovery Center offers disaster case management, housing support, medical outreach, educational programs, humanistic cultural events, spiritual and emotional support, and resource referrals, its volunteers are poised to respond quickly to new disasters, which they did when these latest wildfire incidents erupted.
Assessing Needs and Registering Survivors as the Park Fire Rages On
When CAL FIRE reopened some Park Fire-impacted areas, the Tzu Chi Chico team set out to visit survivors in Cohasset, a census-designated place in Butte County, at the sites of their former homes, the structures reduced to ash by the wildfire. There, they heard many heart-wrenching stories.
Patti Colin returned home after the Park Fire to find only rubble and ashes. She recalled that the afternoon the wildfire hit, thick smoke quickly engulfed the community. As Colin was not home, her husband hurriedly packed a few bags and escaped. It would be more than a week before the disaster area lockdown lifted. When she returned, the previously green forest was charred black, and the wind still carried acrid smoke. As for the couple’s home, it was gone.
Even if everything went perfectly, it would be years before we could rebuild. And I’m 72, so I don’t know.
The thought of trying to rebuild the couple’s home saddened Colin as she considered the many procedures and official permits it would require. She looked at the Tzu Chi volunteers who had come to visit and inquire about her needs and said, with emotions rising, “We’re very grateful for your help.” She hopes that in the future, rain will moisten the earth again, and time will fade the flame’s scars on nature, restoring greenery and faith in the future and life.
On August 5, while the Park Fire was barely 34% contained and impacting Butte, Plumas, Shasta, and Tehama counties, Butte County, where the blaze originated, established a Local Assistance Center (LAC) in Chico. Various relief organizations assembled to provide emergency assistance, including a Tzu Chi USA Northwest Region volunteer team that set up a service station to register survivors and assess their needs. Sadly, several had lived through previous disasters here.
Julia White Sanchez originally lived in Santa Cruz, south of the Bay Area. She experienced the August 2020 lightning wildfires in California and a landslide disaster caused by heavy rain in 2023. Both times, she received care and assistance from Tzu Chi. For her two daughters to have a safe living environment and complete their high school education, Sanchez moved to Chico in May 2024. And then, just two months later, the Park Fire struck without warning and forced her to evacuate immediately. She couldn’t return yet and still didn’t know the condition of her home. In less than five years, Sanchez had encountered three natural disasters. Sitting before the volunteers and recalling everything, she cried, “I’m so tired.”
Then Sanchez wiped away her tears as she thanked the Tzu Chi volunteers for always appearing by her side when disaster strikes and giving their heartfelt care to her family, which has sadly experienced many trials and tribulations due to these catastrophes.
Another Park Fire survivor who came to register for Tzu Chi’s aid was highly distraught for multiple reasons. “I went through a divorce, lost my business and job, and now I’m hit by a wildfire,” David Opperman shared. His life’s savings were already gone due to these occurrences, and then the Park Fire burned his home and all his possessions. Understandably, Opperman struggled to hold back his tears as overwhelming feelings of helplessness and despair welled up. Although he managed to remain composed, his eyes couldn’t hide his profound sadness.
While empathizing with his emotions and assuring him that Tzu Chi would help him through this challenging period, Tzu Chi USA Northwest Region Executive Director Minjhing Hsieh introduced ancient Buddhist wisdom about impermanence as intrinsic to life, encouraging Opperman to stay strong. That’s a message all Tzu Chi volunteers aim to deliver since a positive outlook is essential to surviving life’s travails.
Tzu Chi received over 100 applications for assistance at the LAC that day, and its disaster relief distributions would follow soon after.
Disaster Relief Distributions Begin
The Tzu Chi USA Northwest Region held its first round of Park Fire disaster relief distributions in Chico on the weekend of August 10 to 11. On Saturday, the team stationed at the LAC and, on Sunday, at Tzu Chi’s Chico Recovery Center, distributing cash cards to relieve the immediate needs of Butte County’s impacted residents. The volunteers also offered attentive moral support as they listened to the survivors share their stories, doing their utmost to lift spirits.
Brandy and Peter Grout live in the Cohasset community with their family. The couple’s parents reside nearby, so they care for each other, especially Brandy’s ailing father, who is bedridden. When the Park Fire erupted, the couple first had to ensure their parents could reach safety in the limited 20-minute evacuation time. After that, they could only grab a few items as they had to evacuate quickly. When the couple could return home after the evacuation order was lifted, they discovered that the wildfire had burned their house, which was uninsured, to the ground. As they look ahead, reconstruction is unlikely due to their financial situation, and only a tiny home seems viable. The cash card from Tzu Chi will help purchase a power generator to run a life-support oxygen machine that Brandy’s father now requires 24-7, the family’s most urgent need.
We’re very grateful. All the Tzu Chi volunteers are very kind and generous. We’re very lucky.
Another Butte County resident impacted by the ongoing Park Fire, Daisy Emerson, arrived at the distribution site wearing a t-shirt with the slogan, “Cohasset Girls Will Survive,” a photo of a firefighting helicopter taken by residents before they left the fire scene, and the date the fire started below. Emerson shared that while more than half of the houses in this community are gone, these t-shirts symbolize moving forward with courage and solidarity. Since the fire, Emerson, her daughter, and granddaughter have lived at a friend’s house. Receiving a cash card, she shared her plans for spending it: “We can buy some daily kitchen and bathroom supplies first, and then we want to buy a small trailer house for the three of us to live in temporarily.”
Each survivor recounted different yet equally challenging circumstances since the Park Fire turned their life upside down. Austin Petersen and his wife had separated three months ago, and he had been living in the Cohasset community with his young daughter. The wildfire took away his house and burned all his means of livelihood. When he temporarily lived in his parent’s house, he often had fights with them, his mind frequently consumed by negative emotions given his current situation.
When Petersen came to the LAC, he felt that, finally, someone listened as he expressed his trauma and worries. His mood lifted as he spoke, and he could then focus on a positive development, as only the day before, a friend offered him a small trailer to live in for free with his daughter. Reflecting on his experience of talking to Tzu Chi volunteers, he realized, “I’ve gained a lot of positive energy and encouragement.” Tzu Chi’s spirit of giving back also inspired him, and once he gets out of his current predicament, he plans to donate the trailer to someone else in need.
During the distribution, the volunteers also presented each survivor with a letter from Dharma Master Cheng Yen expressing her heartfelt condolences about their suffering; her words and wisdom touched their hearts deeply. The Camp Fire of 2018 burned Kenneth and Silvia Baker’s home, and here they were again, revisiting the same trauma, yet also feeling the love and compassion that Tzu Chi volunteers aim to deliver worldwide. “I’ve never seen such humble and selfless volunteers like Tzu Chi volunteers,” Kenneth Baker said. He also acknowledged the respect he was always offered while in a position of need: “We don’t feel like we’re begging.”
Tzu Chi volunteers also discovered kindred spirits, people who described how they have gone above and beyond in the past to help others. Alas, this disaster struck a blow hard to recover from, as Stephanie Ingraham questioned, “Why me?” Stephanie and Orlan Ingraham had opened their home as a temporary shelter when the Oroville Dam collapsed in 2017, hosting more than 50 families. Then, the Park Fire destroyed their home in Cohasset this year. Stephanie bemoaned what happened, breaking down in tears, “The voice in my heart kept asking, ‘I’m a good person, so why did such a thing happen to me?’” At the same time, she knew she was on the right path despite this setback: “I must be strong to take care of my son with special needs and my family.” Tzu Chi volunteers hugged her as she wept, empathizing and reminding her that these were material losses. Most importantly, her family was safe, things would improve, and her humanitarian spirit would survive since she understood the meaning of compassion.
The most important thing is to keep the survivors confident and hopeful. Tzu Chi will not give up on them, and we will continue to accompany them until full recovery.
The Tzu Chi USA Northwest Region held a second round of disaster relief distribution in Chico on August 17, and a final one on August 24, exactly one month after the Park Fire started. In total, Tzu Chi USA provided $104,500 in cash cards, benefiting 158 families impacted by this calamity.
On August 24, the Park Fire was still active, although 71% contained. It had impacted 429,603 acres, destroyed 709 structures, and damaged 54, with no further structures threatened. However, the California wildfire season, which typically extends from May to October, may bring additional catastrophes in 2024. Tzu Chi volunteers are ready. As always, their motto is to be among the first to arrive and ensure that no one is left behind when needing care and aid.
