SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Warren Thompson understands fear. He never finished his morning coffee on that windy fall day four years ago because a branch — on fire — blew over his head when he stepped outside, and he knew the wildfire was coming. He ran.
Thompson, now 71, understands the waiting, the days when you have no toothbrush, no soap, no nothing, and you don’t know if everything you own has turned to ash. The hours when you don’t know if the people you love made it out alive.
And because he understands all that, he was sorting a pile of donated jeans on a folding table in a parking lot about 19 miles from his new home in Sacramento. Because this Camp Fire survivor wanted to be a small part of helping Mosquito fire evacuees before they return to whatever awaits them in the Sierra foothills.
