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Melissa Estalilla lives in Magalia, just northeast of Paradise. On Thursday, she says she was aware of the Camp Fire, but she didn't know it was going to spread so quickly, or that she would end up stranded in a Rite Aid, surrounded by flames.

"The flames were coming in all afternoon," she said. "There was just a big billow of smoke."

Late Thursday evening, Estalilla was listening to the radio and heard that the area was under mandatory evacuation orders. But when Estalilla tried to flee, the roads were closed.

"We couldn't get out at all," she said. "The roads were closed because of the flames. There was fire everywhere."

So she headed to the town's Save More to seek shelter with a group of other evacuees. Estalilla said she heard propane tanks exploding and saw nearby trees falling over.

The group left the Save More but only made it about a half mile before taking refuge in a Rite Aid.

"Firefighters actually broke into Rite Aid, so we'd have a safe place to be because there was fire everywhere," she said.

