Thursday marks one week since the Camp Fire erupted in Butte County.

And we are learning more about the heroism of first responders who moved quickly to save lives in the early hours of the fire.

On Wednesday, KRON4 spent the afternoon listening to fire dispatch audio from the first day of the fire. 

The fire started early in the morning last Thursday and quickly exploded in size. Throughout that first day, firefighting resources poured into the area.

At one point, the focus became less about stopping the fire and more about saving lives. 

“We have eyes on the vegetation fire,” a first responder said in the audio.

Early on the morning of Nov. 8, multiple fire crews were dispatched to investigate reports of a wildfire near the small town of Pulga.

Almost immediately, it became clear the blaze could become a big problem.

“This has got potential for a major incident,” a firefighter said. “Gonna have Engine 26 go down into Pulga and evacuate it.”

Pushed by strong, winds the fire spread rapidly westward. Responding fire crews struggled to reach the flames.

More evacuations were put in place. Within hours, the fire reached Paradise.

The roadways out of the area became clogged with cars as people fled the advancing wildfire.

“They are trapped in Hoffman Road with multiple residences taking refuge in a creek,” the dispatch audio said. “Reports of possible entrapment. They can not evacuate because of fire.”

The fire moved so quickly that in several cases, even fire firefighters couldn’t escape. 

“Strike team I have a firefighter with smoke inhalation,” first responders said. “Transporting to Oroville hospital. We are about to get overrun here. We have got probably a thousand vehicles in here. Once the fire hits, we are going to pull the people out and put them in vehicles.”

It took the better part of the day before the majority of people were able to reach safety. Some neighbors didn’t make it.

There are literally days of dispatch audio that include rescues of animals and people, and evacuations of retirement homes.

It really was a heroic effort by first responders that kept the death toll from being much higher than it was.

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