TUCSON – A couple that survived the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history is now calling Tucson home.

The Camp Fire ripped through Paradise, California back in November 2018.

“Then one morning, November 8th, the fire started,” said Rick Clark. “And we barely got out of the house with our dogs and some clothes.”

Clark and his partner Jamie Johnston were able to escape their Paradise home before it was destroyed by the fire.  Eighty-five other people weren’t as lucky.

The Camp Fire scorched more than 150-thousand acres and caused an estimated $16.5 billion in damage.

“So the fire was already burning and we just barely got out,” Clark said,” I hooked the trailer up and we took off and we picked up a girl on the way out because she didn’t have a ride to get out of there.”

Clark said a lot of the people who didn’t make it out were elderly.

“A lot of them burned in the fire,” Clark said. “Just the thought of that is really horrible.”

“When you make plans for your life, it can change in an instant,” said Johnston.

This picture of Clark and Johnston, along with 150 others, shows the massive amount of panic and tears. Johnston said survivors waited 3 hours in this parking lot, surrounded by the fire that was burning through their homes.

“The loss is just overwhelming,” Johnston said. “I mean everything from your life. If you’ve lived 65 years and it’s all gone. It kind of takes your identity away.”

Now the couple calls Tucson home. Johnston calls it a “safe place.”

“My sister wanted me to be in a safe place,” Johnston said. “Without disasters.”

Their new home is filled with new belongings thanks to a few generous donors.

“The lady who lived here before she was downsizing and she had just lost her husband and she left us everything in here,” Johnston said.

Johnston and Clark would eventually like to return to Paradise.

“Four or five of our neighbors now plan to rebuild,” Johnston said. “They’ve already ordered their modular homes. They’re ready to go back but we’re all kind of waiting. I don’t know how long it’s going to take but I know I want to go back.”

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