Skyway road. A new sign erected after Camp Fire indicates the rebuilding of the town. Camp Fire devastated 620 sq km of forest, destroying 18,800 houses with a death toll of 86 people, with another 3 injured and 11 still missing. The population of the town of Paradise was estimated at 26,000 inhabitants at the time of the fire.

North Libly road

Pentz road gas station. The winds blowing at more than 35mph helped propagating the fire, taking by surprise the town inhabitants at dawn, on November 8, 2018.

East Dottie lane.

Jim and Angela McCurdy in the trailer they live in a few days a week while rebuilding their house. Angela has anxiety crises because of Camp Fire, so she currently can’t work. She hopes they will reduce with time… 39,000 victims of Camp Fire have received psychological support to overcome the feelings of fear they still suffer from to this day.

Residential lot, Sawmill road.

Village Parkway mobile home park.

Paradise lake

1081 Elliott road.

Fire department station n°1, Birch street. Paradise is divided into 14 zones, each with their fire station. An evacuation protocol had been designed and was to be activated in case of a fire, but the automated text message alerts didn’t have the expected impact, because part of the town inhabitants still hadn’t activated that service and therefore didn’t receive them.

Carrie Max in front of the trailer she lives while she rebuilds on the same property where her mother’s house stood before the fire. “It has pretty much become the Wild West here, some have been stolen all their equipment on their land. I do not feel safe alone at night here without a fence around my property.”

Car cemetery on Skyway road. Long traffic jams formed on the only way out of Paradise when inhabitants rushed to evacuate. Many victims of Camp Fire were trapped in their cars, surrounded by the flames.

Coutolenc road, towards Paradise Lake.

Brian and Carrie Stratton on the back porch of their new house. “We have been extremely lucky to receive money from the insurance to rebuild an identical house. Friends are also building their house next to ours. This catastrophe has made us stronger and under no circumstances would we want to leave town.”

Skyway road. Funds have been raised and food donated to help the people who lost their job and their home. Most of the town’s shops were destroyed, thus unemployment rates have skyrocketted in Paradise. This jeopardized the residents of the town who were not able to relocate to another region.

Sign along Skyway road, approaching Chico, the main town of the area. For many inhabitants of the region, coming back to live in Paradise is not easy, neither financially, nor emotionally.

Tina Balasek in her trailer, parked on her newly acquired land. « I met my first love here, married him, built my family and raised my children in this town. I feel extremely luck to have survived Camp Fire, even if I now have emotional issues that I have to deal with. On some days, I feel immensely anxious. But under no circumstances would I want to leave Paradise. I have spent 40 years of my life here and don’t see myself live anywhere else. »

Skyway Antique Mall, Birch street and Skyway road.

Coutolenc road, leading to Paradise Lake. At a distance, the hills where Camp Fire started. It was pushed on an extremely thick and dry vegetation from an unusually hot summer by high katabatic winds up to 35 mph, locally known as the Jarbo winds. The fire would have started under the high voltage lines from the company PG&E. The investigation will determine whether the origin of the fire is related to those lines.