Neoma and Jack Wisdom

Jack: “I noticed the fire on my way to work. I ran into the hospital and told my coworkers about the fire. They didn’t know. I tried calling my wife, but she didn’t answer the phone, so I told my coworkers I would be right back. I drove home and told my wife about the fire in the canyon. We traded cars since the Jeep could carry more stuff from the house. We had been evacuated before, but we were always back in a few hours. We had no idea how bad this fire was going to be.

 I went back to the hospital assuming it was going to be like a regular day. The fire was miles away. After I got back, the hospital decided to go ahead and start the first three surgical cases. Barely ten minutes in, the doors to the surgery room opened and someone told us we had to hurry because the fire was already in the hospital’s parking lot and the hospital was being evacuated. It was burning all the trees, bushes, and grounds and some of the buildings were on fire.

We finished surgery in less than an hour. Sometimes this particular surgery would take a lot more time. Staff had a stretcher sitting at the door waiting to take the patient out on an ambulance. I assumed I would be on call and helping at the hospital during this emergency, but someone said we all had to leave the hospital grounds. So, I went to my car and called my wife.”

Neoma: “I never got the automated call to evacuate. We had signed up for this service. I only found out we had to evacuate when one of my neighbors yelled to me from the driveway. As I turned to my house, I heard and saw burning branches falling out of the clouds onto our roof. I ran back to my house and was praying ‘What else do I need to take?’ I heard a voice to my right say, ‘Get out. Get out now!’ So, I ran and put our two dogs in the car and started down our driveway.

As I drove, I was praying, ‘Do I go right or left?’ and that same voice told me which way to go. I knew the fire was in our neighborhood as I could see the eerie glow to my left. I didn’t want to look, and the voice said ‘Don’t look. Just keep driving.’

As I was driving down the Skyway, which goes from Paradise to Chico, the day turned into almost pitch-black night. Ashes were falling like snow. All you could see of blue was towards two towns down below in the distance. There were only about 4 cars on the road, and I was thinking, ‘Where is everyone? Dear Lord, please get everyone out!’

My phone rang. It was Jack and he was asking me to pray for him. He told me he loved me. He told me everything was going to be okay. Then the phone went dead.”

Jack: “It took me about 30 minutes to get out of the hospital’s parking lot. The road was packed with cars and people trying to escape. Paradise has had fire evacuation drills and the city was divided into evacuation zones. Emergency personnel were thinking this fire was going to be like a normal fire, so they were trying to evacuate the town according to those areas. What they didn’t realize was that this fire wasn’t normal.

When I finally drove out of the parking lot, I turned up towards Bille Road, north of the hospital. Bille Road was blocked with downed electric poles and trees on fire. I turned my car around and heading south of the hospital on Pentz Road. I picked up an older gentleman and his dog who were trying to escape the fire by walking out. His name was Walter, and I was glad to have someone with me. At Pearson Road a fire truck was parked across Pentz and they directed us down Pearson Road. I was trying to stay in the middle of the road as everything around us was on fire. Houses, garages, trees, propane tanks. Everything! It seemed like the vehicles driven on the sides of the road were catching on fire. I didn’t want that to happen.

It was literally so hot outside, we both had to lean away from the car doors. At one point I turned the air conditioner on, but hot air blew in, so I turned it off. We thought we were going to die. I told Walter, ‘I am sorry I picked you up. I may have killed you, but don’t worry, I serve a God who raises people from the dead.’ We could hear trees bursting from the heat. We could hear propane tanks exploding. We slowly passed cars and homes on fire. It was the worst nightmare.

Movement forward came to a halt. At one point I heard this sound like clank, clank, clank. I thought it sounded like a military tank, but as it came closer, it turned out to be a CalFire bulldozer. The operator was bulldozing burning vehicles off the road. A firetruck in front of us lead us to a small open field. All the vehicles still with people drove in. The bulldozer operator pushed burning trees and the fire away from us. Eventually they cleared the road and led up back to the hospital parking lot. It had only been an hour and a half since we had left. It seemed like a lifetime ago. We stayed there and set up a triage for new patients coming for help and watched as our beloved hospital burned down around us.

Neoma: “By now I was at my mom’s small house in Chico. I told her what was happening, and Jack was still up there. My mom started calling churches, conferences and others telling them about Paradise and to pray. I was sitting near the living room window looking up towards my home and praying.

I grabbed one of mom’s Bibles and started reading promises. I prayed, ‘Lord, please keep my husband safe. I know it’ll be alright if I see him on resurrection morning, but I’d really like to see him here again.

As I prayed for my husband, I said, ‘God, you say Ask and it shall be given you! I claim that promise today.” I heard that same voice say, ‘He’s alright.’ Less than a minute passed, and my phone rang, but as soon as I answered it, the other line went dead. I thought, maybe it’s the sheriff’s office or someone who knows something about Jack, so I called the number back and Jack answered. I had not heard from him for over 4 hours, and it was so good to hear his voice. He told me he was on the helipad at the hospital and there were firemen there. He said he was okay and loved me.”

Jack: “By 4 p.m. we were finally able to leave the hospital again. A policeman was going to lead us out. The fire was still burning, and a lot of the hospital was still on fire. We drove down Pentz passing Pearson. After miles, we reached a point where the sky turned to blue. It was such a beautiful sight. While some people headed towards Oroville, I turned to drive to Chico to my mother-in-law’s home. When Neoma and I finally saw each other, we rejoiced and praised God for being with us through the fire.”

Neoma: "This was definitely a difficult experience. Our home burned. Our church burned. The hospital where Jack worked burned. 90% of our town was gone. But God was with us and so many others. He was with us in this fire like He was with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

In 2017, before the fires, we had gone on a Maranatha trip to Africa to help build a boy’s dormitory for orphans and a boarding school. We were heartbroken with the little children’s cries from the lack of healthy drinking water in the area. Our pathfinder club had raised money to help build a well, but then the fires changed it all. After the fire, Jack and I talked, and we were asking each other ‘How can we thank God for everything He did for us?’ Then we thought of that well. So, we used part of our insurance money from our policy to pay for a well in Kenya, Africa.

After the well was constructed, Maranatha said we could put our names on it, but we said “No. Put Isaiah 65:24 instead. Isaiah 65:24 says, ‘Before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear.’”

Jack: “We don’t know the whys of the devastation of the fires. Someday we will know more. We do think we were led to Kentucky by the prayers of the Danville Church members who were praying for a few more families to come to their growing church. Plus, we are able to share out story of an amazing God who hears our prayers even before we speak.”

- Neoma and Jack Wisdom, from the Danville Church in Kentucky.