Resident loses mother to Paradise wildfires; Daughter traveled to California to search for family members

by John Benson

Less than 24 hours after receiving word that her former hometown of Paradise, Calif., was destroyed by a wildfire, Independence resident Tammie Konicki made a cross-country trip to find her family.

“On Nov. 8, I’m sitting down at a restaurant with my kid and my girlfriend when I got a news alert on my phone that said ‘Paradise destroyed by fire,’” said Konicki, calling from Sacramento late last month. “I called my mom, Sheila Santos, and her phone went straight to voicemail.

“I called my twin sister and she said she was with my aunt and cousin, but she hadn’t heard from my mom since 8:30 that morning when she woke her up to tell her that they were being evacuated. That’s the last they heard from her.”

Konicki frantically called around to locate family members. After getting a tooth pulled at the dentist’s office, she left for California on Nov. 9 and arrived three days later and searched shelters. That’s where she found an uncle.

“Then I found another aunt and uncle who drove through the fire for three hours and made it to a hotel,” Konicki said.

There was no word about her mother until Nov. 30, when Konicki received the call she hoped she would not get. Investigators used DNA to positively identify her mother. Her body was found inside her trailer.

Konicki grew up on the south side of San Francisco and spent many years in Paradise before joining the Army at age 18. The former staff sergeant said her military experience is helping her get through this difficult time.

“The military, thank goodness, has helped me handle this, but these are one of the scenarios you would never think would happen to you,” she said. “This is one of the most mentally and physically exhausting things I’ve ever done because you just don’t know what you’re going to find.

“You’re waiting every day on answers, and it’s a roller coaster emotionally up and down because somebody said they saw her and you have to trace every single lead. Your hope goes up and down. I’ve been to war, I fought in Afghanistan, and this is by far the hardest thing I ever had to deal with.”

Konicki said she and her family stayed in Roseville, Calif., inside a 28-foot trailer while they searched. The owner learned of their story and not only let them stay for free but stocked it with food for three weeks.

The plan is for Konicki to return to Independence with her sister, uncle, cousin and maybe an aunt because everyone lost everything in the fire.

“Unfortunately, this town [Paradise] is prone to fires,” she said. “They get fire alerts and evacuations yearly, and … they’ve been evacuated five times in the last five years because of fires. Nobody expected the fire to hit with 50 mph winds, growing it to the size of a football field every second. It was just that bad and destroyed the town within hours.”

To learn how to help Konicki and her family, visit “Help find Sheila Santos from Paradise #CampFire” on Facebook.

 

Featured image photo caption: Tammie Konicki said her military experience is helping her get through this difficult time.