Atop a windswept ridge between two wild canyons, the town of Paradise is rebuilding for a hotter, drier climate — an inspiration for other California towns at risk of nature’s whims and man’s…
Left: Aerial footage shows Paradise homes destroyed by the Camp Fire south of the Paradise Plaza at Melene Court and Country Oak Drive days after a fire ripped through the town in November 2018. Right: Five years later, new homes like this one on Country Oak Drive, are slowly repopulating the neighborhoods.
as residents frantically rushed to escape the Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history. Sacramento Metropolitan firefighters battle the Camp Fire in Magalia, Calif., Friday, November 9, 2018. Camp Fire evacuee Anna Hempel, covered with blankets provided by the Red Cross, with her dog and her husband Billy Delcoure, behind her, at a evacuation center at the Neighborhood Church in Chico, Calif., on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018.
Thick smoke from the Camp Fire blankets Interstate 5 near Willows, 30 miles from Paradise, on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018. PARADISE, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 10: Law enforcement officials search in the rubble of a property on Windsong Lane and Neal Road after the Camp Fire destroyed more than 100 thousand acres in Paradise, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 9, 2018. Instead, Paradise is changing its strategy. It will rebuild — differently, safely.
Five years after the Camp Fire, construction of steel frame homes are among the precautions the town is taking to prevent future devastation. Unlike wood, steel does not ignite, so can better withstand fire. Popular stores like Ross, Big Lots and Tractor Supply have opened, buoyed by an economy that until recently was reliant on federal and state grants, donations, insurance payouts and PG&E legal settlements.About 30% of the town is rebuilt. Heartbreak, rising construction costs, insufficient insurance coverage and meager PG&E payouts have kept many people from returning — especially retirees of modest income.
“You can tell, almost by looking at someone, whether they were here,” said survivor Joan Ellison, 68, who is living in a Chico apartment while slowly rebuilding her home. “Because we know something that no one else knows.” Of those who returned promptly, almost all were well-insured. The modest 1960s-era house owned by town councilman and former Mayor Steve “Woody” Culleton, covered by Allstate, had terrible insulation, electric baseboard heat and the dense shade of 16 pine trees. His replacement home, built to modern standards, is larger and more elegant, with solar panels, a sunny porch and a vegetable garden.
Recovery was slowed by protracted insurance negotiations. Then COVID hit, and with it supply chain delays in getting even the most basic building materials. PG&E payouts were too little, too late, averaging only 60% of what most residents anticipated. There was competition for contractors. Prices skyrocketed.
Almost all of the town’s 32 mobile home parks remain unbuilt. Because they are privately owned businesses, there’s little government aid, said Colette Curtis, the town’s director of Recovery and Economic Development. Most were not adequately insured to rebuild their roads, septic tanks and other infrastructure, she added.
Empty lots remain on Fir Street in downtown Paradise, as business owners wait for more residents to return before rebuilding. Town officials seek to create a downtown that is smaller, safer and more walkable, with new sidewalks, lighting and landscaping. “It would be ‘backward thinking’ of us to do a replacement of our old 1940s, ’50s and ’60s infrastructure,” said Thorp. “We’re in the 21st century.”
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