‘We all just stood there and watched, there was nothing we could do’: First man to spot Camp Fire reveals how fierce winds made small flames an unstoppable blaze within minutes and it WAS sparked by faulty power line
- Clay Hemstalk, a maintenance supervisor for CA Department of Transportation’s Pulga station, was on call around 6.30am when he heard about the fire
- PG&E truck flagged him down, said fire had broke out near his maintenance yard
- When Hemstalk returned, the fire was ‘taking off’ and quickly got out of control
- He said the wind was ‘carrying it so hard’ there was no way anyone could stop it
- Firefighter radio transmissions indicate transmission line may have sparked fire
One of the first men to spot the Camp Fire has revealed how he watched fierce winds transform it from a small fire to an unstoppable blaze within minutes.
Clay Hemstalk, a maintenance supervisor for the California Department of Transportation’s Pulga station, was on call around 6.30am on Thursday when he first heard about the fire.
Hemstalk was helping remove a three-foot oak tree that had been knocked into the highway by fierce winds when a PG&E truck flagged him down.
The PG&E worker told him a fire had broken out near his maintenance yard just six miles away. When Hemstalk returned at 7am, it was ‘just taking off’.
Clay Hemstalk, one of the first people to see the horrific Camp Fire, has revealed how he watched fierce winds transform it from a small fire to an unstoppable blaze within minutes. The Camp Fire completely destroyed the town of Paradise (seen on Tuesday)
Hemstalk, who lives in Oroville, couldn’t believe what he was witnessing as he stood in his Caltrans yard, just a mile south from where the Camp Fire first ignited.
‘We all just stood there and watched,’ he told Mercury News on Wednesday. ‘It was so windy it was hard to stand up.’
‘There’s nothing more anyone could have done after it started.’
‘Not firefighters, no one. The wind was carrying it so hard there was nothing anyone could do except get out of town.’
Hemstalk could see the fire already forming its destructive path, which has since taken 48 lives, destroyed more than 7,000 homes, and scorched 130,000 acres of land.
The blaze was already igniting spot fires and quickly moving west, where it would completely destroy the town of Paradise.
Hemstalk’s coworker had also spotted the flames while removing a rock from a road near Pulga.
Unlike Hemstalk, they were able to get cell phone service and immediately called 911.
The Camp Fire has taken 48 lives, destroyed more than 7,000 homes, and scorched 130,000 acres of land. Pictured is a car destroyed by the fire in Paradise on Wednesday
Hemstalk said the fire was so quick moving, there was nothing anyone could have done once the first got going. Pictured is the demolished Gold Nugget Museum in Paradise on Tuesday
The first flames were reported on the west side of the Feather River in Pulga. The caller said the flames had formed beneath high tension wires and that the wires were a hazard.
By the time Hemstalk returned to his maintenance yard, the smoke was too thick to see any obvious issues with electrical infrastructure.
But PG&E informed the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) that a high-voltage power line experienced a problem near the origin of the Camp Fire just minutes before the blaze broke out.
The utility company’s regulatory filings, as well as firefighter radio transmissions, also indicate that a transmission line may have sparked the fire.
Several victims of the fire have since filed a lawsuit against PG&E, claiming it failed to properly maintain its equipment and infrastructure.
PG&E informed the California Public Utilities Commission that a high-voltage power line experienced a problem near the origin of the Camp Fire just minutes before the blaze broke out. Pictured are firefighters combing through a destroyed house in Paradise on Tuesday
Betsy Ann Cowley, who lives on 64 acres in Pulga right next to the junction with Camp Creek Road, said PG&E emailed her the day before the fire began and said it needed to investigate power lines on the land.
The email said the company was sending employees to work on the high-power lines because ‘they were having problems with sparks’.
And, two days before the fire started, PG&E told customers in nine counties that it might shut off their power on November 8 because of extreme fire danger.
One of the counties included was Butte County, where Paradise is located.
But the utility company called off the shutdown, telling customers nine hours after the Camp Fire began that the weather conditions ‘did not warrant this safety measure’.
Mike Danko, a lawyer representing the Camp Fire victims, claims that PG&E did not go through with the planned shutdown because company bonuses are tied to customer complaints.
Betsy Ann Cowley (pictured) revealed PG&E had emailed her the day before the Camp Fire began and said it needed to investigate power lines that were causing sparks on her land
PG&E saw its shares drop 48 percent in the first two days of trading since the Camp Fire first began. Pictured is the company’s five-day market summary since the fire
‘This is the worst of them all, because PG&E knew what to do to prevent the fire, knew what the risks of a fire are, and instead lined their pockets at the expense of customer safety,’ he said.
Danko said he expects more lawsuits against PG&E will be filed soon.
‘They’ve destroyed people’s lives, killed people and burned down many houses – in fact, an entire town,’ he told the San Francisco Chronicle.
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‘At some point, there has to be accountability.’
Hemstalk and his crew helped shut down Highway 70 after the fire first began.
As the Camp Fire rages on – with only 35 percent containment – he’s continuing to remove burnt trees and fallen rocks to keep the roads clear for emergency vehicles.
‘It’s devastating,’ Hemstalk said. ‘I would never have thought it would go all the way where it did from where we were at.’
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