PARADISE, Calif.–A wildfire described as growing by “80 football fields per minute” here and which is 0% contained has led to the closure of credit union branches in Northern California. And in an unfortunately ironic coincidence, the CEOs of two CUs affected were on hand at the California and Nevada leagues’ REACH Conference in Hollywood, Calif., to share the lessons learned in responding to disasters even as they were dealing with the new fire at the same time.
The Camp Fire in Butte County, Calif., north of Sacramento, had already burned 18,000 acres at the time of this report. John Cassidy, CEO of Yuba City, Calif.-based Sierra Central Credit Union, said during the REACH meeting that it had closed five branches. Brett Martinez, CEO of Redwood Credit Union, who was co-presenting with Cassidy, told the meeting the smoke could be smelled in his branches 220 miles away. Redwood CU has in the past invested in equipment to purify air in its facilities due to earlier fires.
Acting Governor Gavin Newsom (D) has declared a state of emergency.
Evacuation routes have been clogged with traffic as more than 20,000 people seek to flee the growing blaze, according to the Sacramento Bee. The Adventist Health Feather River hospital also reportedly caught fire.
“People are leaving vehicles and running with children and pets,” one person tweeted.
Officials are warning the blaze could reach Chico, Calif., a college town of about 93,000 about six miles from Paradise, Calif. There are two credit unions headquartered in Chico, where Sierra Central also has a branch, as do the Golden 1 Credit Union and Members 1st Credit Union.