[Lisa Ling] Coming up on Life on the Line.

[male voice] This was not a normal day of work.

[Lisa Ling] Nobody knew that they would wake up to the deadliest fire in the history of California.

Our hospital had already started evacuation at eight o'clock that morning.

We loaded up as many ambulances as we could.

And our hospital staff called for more ambulances.

The answer was we don't have any.

Brad loads up his own van with patients to help them escape the fire.

[Brad] Oops.

Go-go-go-go.

I didn't want to turn back.

I needed to get these patients to a hospital.

[Brad Brown] I'm going to do it.

[voices] They told us...

It's too dark right now... Now, I didn't know this was the entire rest of the town of Paradise on fire... [Brad] Let's go... [female voice] Oh, don't go so fast it scares me..

...I won't look.

[dramatic music] [dramatic music] [shallow breathing] [dramatic music] [dramatic music] [voices, gunfire] [dramatic music] [music swells] [music swells] [machine beeping slowly] [Lisa Ling] Life on the Line An inspiring look into personal journeys of hope and determination.

Ever since the devastating Camp Fire burned much of their hometown of Paradise California.

The Brown family has been sleeping in their trailer.

It's been three months.

They're now 20 minutes away from Paradise on a friend's driveway.

[Brad Brown] Nobody, knew that it would be months that we'd be staying here.

And we we've been very grateful that we were able to be here.

It's actually been a godsend in many ways.

The Browns moved to Paradise California in 2012.

Brad and Malia were college sweethearts.

[Brad] ...and she was the hardest person for me to actually convince to date me.

And so my friend he continued to give me a party line.

I don't know where he came up with it, but he said, "She likes you, she just doesn't know it yet."

So, after three months eventually she turned from a 'maybe' to a 'yes' and the rest became history.

Two years later we were married.

Eventually they had two children and decided to settle down in Paradise California where Brad accepted a position at Feather River Hospital as the director of a chaplain program.

Malia, a mathematician, home-schooled their kids And three weeks after we arrived in Paradise my wife was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer.

And, um, so our kids were six and nine at that time and we actually knew two people in the entire community.

As we moved along through this journey, this health care journey for Malia, one of the things that we had anticipated was that her understanding of okay at first, was that, she'll be okay, that somehow, miraculously, she'll pull through.

But after probably about five and a half years she realized that the okay meant that...um... that our kids will be okay.

And that was...that was an important goal for her.

And our daughter, was the younger one, and not as settled into life and faith.

And at her graduation for eighth grade.

Alina was awarded a five hundred dollar merit scholarship.

For being someone who had strong faith that made a difference that academically was sound and it was that that total package that Malia desired for her daughter.

And so, I came home, and shared... shared this story with Malia.

And she passed away a week later.

But, what was amazing to us, was this community that we didn't know became our family.

They would bring us food.

They would watch our children for us.

They would pray for us.

And so this community gave so much to us.

It really became a home for us.

Which set the stage for eventually what happened on November 8 this year, for this community.

[Lisa Ling] Just months after Malia passed away.

The Brown family along with the whole community of Paradise, experienced the worst fire in the history of California.

[Brad] ...the kids arrived at school, and they were promptly told to return home.

And as we were about to leave the school there were some burnt leaves that were falling down and some twigs and some other stuff like that.

I Arrived about 15 minutes later at the hospital and as I pulled up the fire had actually arrived right behind the hospital.

[male voice on radio] Evacuation order from the Butte County Sheriff's office this morning.

I was concerned for my children, so I called them and said, "Load everything up."

Jaron my son had just turned 16 three weeks before and got his license, and he was was driving, barely, never driven our large truck never pulled a fifth wheel trailer that we have, a 36 foot fifth wheel.

and so I told him, "Jaron you need to hook those two up, and you need to load up our pets, documents, your sister, grandma, and you need to do it as quickly as you can."

By then, getting onto the main road, there were tons of cars for a certain point we moved maybe 100 feet in forty-five minutes.

[Lisa Ling] No one realized how fast the flames were actually moving.

At its fastest, the fire blazed through at more than a football field a second.

Our hospital had already started evacuation at 8 o'clock.

We loaded up as many ambulances as we could.

And when our hospital staff called for more ambulances the answer was, "We don't have any more."

[Lisa Ling] With patients still needing to evacuate.

Brad runs to his minivan as he and other hospital staff load up their own cars with patients to help them escape the fire.

In Brad's vehicle, two critical patients from the intensive care unit and a nonverbal hospice patient.

[Brad] But as soon as we turn to the right, [indiscernible], it was gridlock.

People were running from their vehicles.

The thought of course crossed my mind too.

But, we're committed as health care providers to our patients no matter what the cost is.

And so I couldn't leave to go back to my kids.

I couldn't leave my patients and I could hear the fire.

At this point it was - It was like a train.

You could hear it coming up the canyon and eventually the fires burned around us that burned homes they burned trees.

They burned anything that was flammable.

I couldn't move.

And the only thing that we could come up with was the reality we were stuck.

The fires they started burning our hospital and I finally realized I'm not going anywhere.

The fires right around me.

I'm probably not going to make it.

And so I called up a friend and said I'm just asking a favor of you.

Would you please watch over my kids for me.

And that was, it was a really challenging call to make.

So, I told my son, "I love ya, I love your sister, but I think that I probably won't see you again."

And at that point I lost connection with my son because the cell tower went down in Paradise.

So, the patients in my vehicle.

Were obviously distressed.

So, I just started talking to them and I said "I'm the chaplain."

They didn't know who I was.

And so we prayed.

We talked about faith.

I'm just going to show what God's gonna do for us.

For two hours we were in that van as the fires came up and went over.

You could hear explosions all over town.

Propane tanks and gas lines were blowing up.

It literally felt like you were in the middle of a war zone.

[Lisa Ling] More than two hours later traffic moved.

Further down the road bulldozers had arrived to push the burnt vehicles blocking the only way out of town.

Soon after, the fire department told Brad and the others to go to the large parking lot at K-mart in the center of town.

[Brad to passengers] We're trying to make it to Kmart.

Kmart is our destination, they told us to go there so we can get out of town.

Oops.

Go,go,go,go.

If you're going to go, go.

[female voice] Ooh, it's dark.

That's why she's afraid.

I didn't want to turn back.

I needed to get these patients to a hospital.

[Brad] I'm gonna do it.

[male voice] It's too dark right now I'd give it a moment.

I Didn't know if there were vehicles on the other side.

If this was the entire rest of town of Paradise on fire.

[Brad to passengers] Let's go.

[female voice] Oh, don't go so fast, I scares me.

[Brad to passengers] We just have to get through it.

[engine revving] [female voice - trembling] I won't look.

[Brad to passengers] We just needed to get through that are as soon as possible.

[female voice] You're right, you're right, you're right.

We access the parking lot, and for the next couple hours We stayed there and Cal Fire had brought in some of their fire departments to defend that space so that at least a space with people would hopefully be safe in Paradise.

[Lisa Ling] Desperate to get his critical patients to a hospital.

Brad asked a sheriff to find a way out for them.

[Brad] He came back eventually and said I'm sorry I can't find a way out for you.

I'll keep looking.

And so he did.

He went back out again.

This is probably about three o'clock in the afternoon.

He came back and said I found a way out.

So driving out of paradise I didn't know if my kids were alive.

I didn't know if my home was going to survive.

I was pretty certain it wasn't.

And I didn't know how many patients or staff had actually made it out alive.

And so finally as I accessed heading down the Skyway towards Chico.

Finally had reception on my phone and was able to reach out to my kids.

And discovered that they'd made it out of Paradise alive.

There was a moment that I'll never forget being able to tell my kids again that I love them, and that I would see them again.

[Lisa Ling] That day every single patient was successfully transported to another hospital.

After I dropped off patients at the hospital.

I was able to come to the location where my children were at.

When he opened the door and he walked in I was like, "Yes!"

And of course I hugged him.

I was so happy.

I probably haven't hugged them that hard ever in their life.

I didn't want to let go of them.

We both know what loss is.

We've lost a lot.

And I haven't been that happy for a long time So.

It was very nice to be happy.

And so we had a prayer of thanksgiving as well as just a communal hug that we didn't want to let go of.

It's a moment I'll never forget.

But he smelled extremely smoky like, oof daddy, you need to take a shower.

[laughing] [violin playing slowly] [Lisa Ling] The fire in Paradise known as the 'Camp Fire' became the most destructive and deadliest fire in the history of California.

Nineteen thousand structures were lost and 86 people lost their lives.

Days later evacuation orders are still in place for the city of Paradise.

Like everyone who's home is on the ridge, Brad was unable to see whether their home survived but the numbers were grim.

Ninety-one percent of all homes and structures were lost.

[Brad] And after the fires many of my friends that had journeyed along with my family, through the last six years of cancer, were praying for my home.

And they said they weren't praying for their home, they were praying for my home, and I asked them why, and they told me it was because we were going to make sure that you had something left to remember you're your wife by the kid's mother by, and for us that was more important than our own success in having a home in the town of Paradise.

[Lisa Ling] He was able to access paradise with a friend who received clearance from Cal Fire.

They drove to Brad's Street There's my home, right there.

My rental house burned, that's my rental in front.

My fence burned.

But, turn right in here.

It's one of the [indiscernible].

I fenced the whole property.

My neighbor's house burned.

This is God.

Is all I can say.

[Brad] And it really touched me to realize the love that people had had for me even in the midst of this apocalyptic event.

That they were concerned for, for my family.

And that, that's the Paradise to me.

That's the community that we have.

It's a community full of love and support.

And that's the community that I want to see return to the ridge; that I want to be a part of.

I want to give that back, because it was, it was given to my family freely.

And it's my opportunity to give that love back to them.

[Lisa Ling] Although their house survived the fire, they are unable to move back in.

Evacuation orders stayed in place for one month.

Still, other setbacks made it impossible to go back home after the fire.

FEMA ordered that al debris must be removed from your property and all burned trees cut down.

In addition, the fire destroyed the entire electrical grid in Paradise along with the water and gas lines.

For the last three months, Brad has been working hard to be able to move back in.

For now, they're still sleeping in their fifth-wheel trailer in the front yard of the Hieb family's home in Chico.

In the backyard is the Goymer family.

[Brad] Nobody knew that it would be months that we'd be staying here; but they are a very gracious, open family.

They have welcomed us in with open arms.

[Mic Hieb] Watching our kids all get together and hang out here and become friends and, and just uh, just uh, how they've helped each other has been really nice.

We have a whole passel of kids that, every night they're sitting next to the fire, doing homework together.

They're helping each other.

The older ones are helping.

It's actually really fun.

Their home has become the base for showers, for social time, for meals.

So we are able to, to share those responsibilities.

So, we've worked out a little system.

We have three families, and we've organized dinner nights.

Uh, my family does two nights a week; their family does two nights a week, and, and, the host family does two nights a week, and the last night is the free-for-all.

You just fend for yourself.

And it works.

And if you cook, you don't have to do the dishes.

Ha ha ha.

And they have invited us to use anything we need.

And they've been so gracious.

And what's unique is that this whole community, Chico, has similar situations across the entire community.

[Lisa Ling] On the other side of town is another family in Chico, the Warings.

The fire came right up to their street and they had to evacuate their home for 10 days.

But ever since, they've had a full house.

[Randy Waring] We call it our fire family.

Um, the most we've had on any given night I think has been seven.

We have four children, and so, we have multiple bedrooms.

And so, each couple can have a bedroom.

It's kinda like a big dorm.

[Lisa Ling] Randy Waring, a physician and elder at his church, noticed emotional trauma in his friends.

We had less trauma than most.

And I know what a fog I was in for probably four to six weeks.

And I still am seeing people really having difficulty with making decisions in day-to-day life, and I realize that this is, this is just part of the, the aftermath of the trauma.

[Brad] There's days when it's, it's challenging to even try and accomplish the things on my list.

Um, or even think of accomplishing my list.

For my children, getting homework done on time; remembering things.

I think that's very common, that we forget many things that we thought we would remember.

And on a normal day, it wouldn't be an issue.

But I realize um that all of us are being challenged to just find a, a level of, um, of normalcy; of clarity in our own minds.

I wanna see people be able to get back to who they are.

[Lisa Ling] Randy contacted the International Behavioral Health Trauma team, based at Loma Linda University in Southern California.

Since 1995, the team has traveled the world to provide behavioral health in the aftermath of most major disasters, including Hurricane Katrina, tsunamis in Southeast Asia, and terror shootings.

[Dr. Buckles] What they were experiencing were normal types of responses to an extremely abnormal event.

So, what we do with the skill set that we provide is to help people get back into that best place so they can make better decisions and be able to do the other things that they need to do.

[Lisa Ling] First up for the team is a visit at the school.

After Paradise Adventist Academy partially burned, they've been meeting at a church and elementary school.

[Dr. Buckles] All of us have something where our nervous system is at its best place.

Now, for little kids we call it like an okay zone, but I'm gonna use the, the big words, the real words we use.

It's called a resilient zone.

Where your nervous system is at its optimal.

You're in a great shape.

But when that other thing happens, which is a trigger point of something too big, too much, too fast.

Then, the nervous system responds to survive.

So, we can sometimes be bumped up on what we call "high" or "low."

Either; both are normal responses to abnormal events.

So when they're not in that best place or that resilient zone, they can be bumped out on what we call "high," where they can be overly anxious or hypervigilant; um, aggressive.

They can have outbursts that they don't understand.

A variety of things.

Or, they can be bumped into what we call a "low zone," and in low zone people tend to be more um, sluggish, apathetic, depressed.

So, the skills we're gonna give you, we're just gonna give you a few of 'em; bring us back to that place where we're in our best zone.

One of the activities that we did was called resourcing.

And, this is an activity where you think of something that brings you great joy, and you want to hold on to that resource and then you want to notice what you sense inside when you are, when you're thinking about that resource.

I like it because, because my friend gives me toy trucks.

Is there a place in your body where you feel good?

Where is that?

Can you show me?

Right there?

In your stomach.

He feels good in his stomach.

When I first come home to my dog, I want, and I pet him, then that makes me feel better and then I go on this chair.

And then you go onto the chair when you're feeling mad or worried or upset.

So we can think about those things and that's gonna make us be in our "okay zone."

Sylvia, what's your resource?

I love listening to country music, because my favorite... Who's your favorite?

Owen Jackson.

Okay, very good.

One of my favorites.

Yeah!

Find a happy place.

It has real merit.

What isn't good for you is to hold on to the stress.

[Lisa Ling] The next day, the team presented to the adults.

[Dr. Arechiga] So, if you think of somebody who's in a lot of stress, what can happen is that our attention, our concentration, our memory, all start to suffer.

So, it may be things like being irritable; not sleeping; having digestive problems.

Um, not being able to think clearly.

Not being able to do math.

Forgetting where you put things.

And it goes on and on and on.

[laughter] All of those things.

Yeah, I've been there, too.

[Dr. Arechiga] So, in this model, we teach people to tell the story in a different way.

So, one of those things we'll ask is, "When did you first notice that you were safe?"

[Brad] Everything has changed at some level in people's lives, and finding that sensor to ground them, whether it be a, a faith picture; whether it be just a safe space, like the trauma team was referring to.

I believe those are helpful pictures, as I re-enter Paradise, and, and live back in the community that is not the Paradise that I left either.

[gentle guitar music] [Lisa Ling] More than three months after the fire, Brad and his family are one of the first to move back home to Paradise.

[Brad] So, returning to our home and sleeping here for the first night.

I actually slept really well.

It was so nice being back in my bed after three months.

Oh-h. Had to; yeah, it was nice to have my own room, and I can listen to music without headphones without bothering anybody.

[laughter] Oh, it's so nice.

[Brad] This was the return that she had hoped for.

Her own bed, no longer sleeping in a trailer, she has her um, familiarity around her; and for me, it was mixed emotion again.

I'm thankful to be back, thankful to have a bed when so many people don't.

I love being here in some ways, and some ways it will just take some time to make it familiar and comfortable again.

When you look outside, it looks a lot different, doesn't it?

Oh, yeah.

We've had to cut down 70 trees, if you can imagine that.

We should plant more trees.

Hmm.

Yes.

It'll take years for our trees to grow back.

Yeah.

At least it looks a little bit nicer.

It does.

It would.

It's a new Paradise; a new normal.

With destroyed buildings, roads, that need resurfaced and still, a lot of the places that they would've normally went to for shopping are no longer in existence or they're not open, so services have not all been returned to the community.

There's a lot of, you know, a lot of people coming up and, um, cleaning up and restoring amenities.

It feels like there's nobody in Paradise.

So it, it's a pioneering spirit that requires people to be willing to come back up on the ridge and, and to move back into this community and make it a home.

[Lisa Ling] While Brad's son is on a school trip, he and his daughter discuss plans for the backyard.

What would you like to do?

Plant lots of flowers and fruit trees.

You know, we actually have a lot more sun because of having taken down so many trees.

So we may actually be able to plant some of those things that you're talking about.

Yeah, we so should.

The future is not gonna be fast moving for Paradise.

My encouragement to people is, don't give up hope.

It will happen.

Take it day by day.

Don't look beyond today.

Uh, because it's, it's overwhelming if you look beyond that day.

This community wrapped their arms around my family for the last six years, as we have went through the most challenging times in our personal journey, with my wife's cancer.

And now my goal to stay here in this community is to give back to the community that has supported me, and right now I feel like the community is where I was.

I had great needs; it supported me.

Now it has great needs, and I can be here and journey along with this community into, I believe, a brighter experience and a brighter time for Paradise.

So, I think rebuilding this community and being an integral part of that gives me hope.

I believe in Paradise.

I believe it can happen, and I believe it will happen.

[upbeat and hopeful anthem] [upbeat and hopeful anthem] This program was made possible by the Ralph and Carolyn Thompson Charitable Foundation, the Foundation for Adventist Education, and the Kendrick Foundation.