PARADISE, United States — “Now, when there’s smoke here, everybody panics,” said Steve Crowder, mayor of the small town of Paradise that was almost wiped off the map by California’s deadly 2018 wildfires.
The former police officer still struggles to hold back tears when talking about the blaze that claimed dozens of lives and engulfed 95 percent of his community’s buildings.
“It’s still hard to get over the 85 people that didn’t get out,” he told AFP.
“It’s the most horrific thing that I’ve ever experienced in my life… I think fire terrorizes everybody here.”
Across California, deadly infernos have only expanded in size since that traumatic year — in 2020, some 4.3 mi…
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