Cassidy learned last Saturday that the branch was intact after receiving a smartphone video from a longtime member.

Smartphone video taken by Sierra Central CU member surveying the branch for damage after the fire.

"It is the largest disaster in the history California," he said. "Forty two people have died. That is going to rise significantly."

On Tuesday, more than a dozen coroner search-and-recovery teams equipped with rapid DNA analysis kits and cadaver dogs searched for bodies among the smoldering ashes and debris of what has been described as an apocalyptic landscape that was once Paradise, the Associated Press reported.

More than 40 years ago, Sierra Central CU opened up its branch in Paradise, a quaint community nestled within a pine forest that became known as an early retirement enclave in the 1960s. About five years ago, the credit union constructed a new branch on the Skyway, near the southwest side of Paradise.

"This fire was fueled by 65 mph winds and with all of those pine trees, it was just a tinderbox," Cassidy said. "Unfortunately, it was an apocalyptic fire.  I'm not sure when we will be able to get back there physically, but more than likely it's going to be Sunday or Monday at the earliest. They still have trees that they have to be cut down so they won't fall on people. There is obviously ash everywhere that has to be cleaned up and we may have smoke damage inside. We'll find out when we get there."

Among the eight employees who work at the branch, five of them have lost their homes.

"We have put them up in hotels and we are taking them out to dinner and helping them get back on their feet," Cassidy said. "All of these folks are in shock, but my team at the Paradise branch is a very resilient group. Frankly, it's kind of amazing to be sitting there with them who have lost pretty much everything and hearing their stories, and how they want to get back on their feet and get going. They want to get back and help our members because they know they have a lot of members who have issues. It's inspiring."

The Paradise branch serves about 5,000 members. The Yuba City-based Sierra Central CU serves nearly 70,000 members.

Cassidy does not know yet how many members have lost their homes, but he expects it is going to be a number much larger than the 103 Sierra Central members in Redding who lost their homes in the Carr Fire in July.

"There is no question that the community will get rebuilt, but it's just going to take years," Cassidy noted.

Ironically, when the Camp Fire began on Thursday, Cassidy was giving a presentation on disaster preparedness strategies at the California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues' REACH conference in Hollywood. Cassidy spoke alongside of Brett Martinez, president/CEO of the $4.4 billion, Santa Rosa, Calif.-based Redwood Credit Union.

While he was on stage on Thursday afternoon, Cassidy was receiving text messages about the Camp Fire and how it was destroying Paradise.

In October 2017, wildfires near Redding, Calif., destroyed more than 7,000 homes and impacted thousands of RCU members in the way of lost property, lost jobs and suffered psychological damage, In February 2017, Sierra Central employees and members endured the Oroville Dam crisis, in which the main and emergency spillways of the dam were damaged, leading to a surge of flood water from Lake Oroville and the evacuation of more than 180,000 residents. Cassidy said the disaster affected five Sierra Central branches and 30,000 members.

Officials from both CUNA Mutual Group and the California and Nevada Credit Union League said it is early in the process as they gather more information and receive reports from credit unions in California concerning damage or potential threats from the fires.

On Tuesday, the National Credit Union Foundation activated CUAid. According to a statement from NCUF, CUAid will "direct disaster relief funds to credit union people affected by wildfires in Northern and Southern California. Donations to the Foundation's General Disaster Relief Fund are being used for any credit union employees and volunteers affected by these wildfires."

NCUF officials said donations can be made directly to the fund using cuaid.coop.