Chico, California, USA - Nov 19, 2018 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of tents, people wearing masks at makeshift camp
2. Various of Paradise resident Doug Edson at makeshift camp
3. Edson talking to reporter
4. SOUNDBITE(English) Doug Edson, Paradise resident, Camp Fire survivor (ending with shot 5):
"I miss when you're at hometown, you know where everything is. You got experiences here. I remember when I was raised here. I remember when I went to high school here. I remember this. And now it's like... no, no, it's all gone. I have a hard time picturing it. The whole town is gone. I can't imagine it."

Town of Paradise, California, USA - Nov 17, 2018 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
5. Various of debris, burnt structures, vehicles

Chico, California, USA - Nov 19, 2018 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
6. SOUNDBITE(English) Doug Edson, Paradise resident, Camp Fire survivor (ending with shot 7):
"I found out at about 9:30. I was woken up at 9:30. I looked outside and it was like weird, ominous, just weird. I was like, we're not having rain today. It's not supposed to be raining today, but it was cloudy. We just followed each other out, and it was all black. By that time it was black. The smoke was so thick it was nighttime."

Town of Paradise, California, USA - Nov 17, 2018 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
7. Various of debris

Chico, California, USA - Nov 19, 2018 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
8. SOUNDBITE(English) Doug Edson, Paradise resident, Camp Fire survivor (partially overlaid with shot 9):
"When we got to the lower Paradise, we got to the bottom of Paradise, that's when the fire was coming into town. And it was full on. I took pictures on my phone. And then there are all the structures on the left, all the houses on the left of the skyway, everything was on fire. Everything, everything was on fire. It was like surreal."

Town of Paradise, California, USA - Nov 17, 2018 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
9. Various of burnt structures, debris
++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++

Chico, California, USA - Nov 19, 2018 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
10. Various of Edson setting up tent
11. SOUNDBITE(English) Doug Edson, Paradise resident, Camp Fire survivor (ending with shot 12):
"I'm having a hard time leaving. I'm familiar with this area. I got all my camping stuff. I might just camp out of my truck for another week and just kind of see what happens."
12. Various of people at camp

A survivor of the Camp Fire in Northern California recently recounted the horrific experience of escaping the deadly blaze that ravaged his hometown in early November.

For most of his life, Doug Edson had lived in the town of Paradise, a once beautiful and tranquil place nestled in the foothills of California's Sierra Nevada Mountains. Yet tragically, the town was largely destroyed by the Camp Fire, one of the deadliest wildfires in California's history.

Nearly four decades of Edson's memories have gone up in smoke, a loss he's struggling to come to terms with.

"I miss when you're at hometown, you know where everything is. You got experiences here. I remember when I was raised here. I remember when I went to high school here. I remember this. And now it's like... no, no, it's all gone. I have a hard time picturing it. The whole town is gone. I can't imagine it," he said.

Edson recalled the disorienting experience of waking up midmorning and looking outside to find the sky as dark as night.

"I was woken up at 9:30. I looked outside and it was like weird, ominous, just weird. I was like, we're not having rain today. It's not supposed to be raining today, but it was cloudy. We just followed each other out, and it was all black. By that time it was black. The smoke was so thick it was nighttime," said Edson.

Residents had a difficult time escaping the wildfire as the roads out of town were jammed with cars. Edson made a narrow escape.

"When we got to the lower Paradise, we got to the bottom of Paradise, that's when the fire was coming into town. And it was full on. I took pictures on my phone. And then there are all the structures on the left, all the houses on the left of the skyway, everything was on fire. Everything, everything was on fire. It was like surreal," he said.

Edson is now staying at a shelter in Chico, a 30-minute drive from Paradise. Survivors there have sufficient support and relief materials for now, but Edson expressed his concern about a long-term solution.

"I'm having a hard time leaving. I'm familiar with this area. I got all my camping stuff. I might just camp out of my truck for another week and just kind of see what happens," he said.

As of Monday night, the death toll from the Camp Fire in Northern California reached 79, and about 700 others remain unaccounted for.