News

Fire, flooding and ICE ---that’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement---figure large in this morning’s Butte Board of Supervisors meeting.

Overshadowing just about everything else, the Camp Fire’s wake continues consuming much of the business of local government.

Future visions of the town of Paradise were unveiled before the public yesterday and locals had a chance to rank, comment and critique reconstruction concepts advanced by residents.

Tonight on “After Paradise” it’s been 23 weeks since the Camp Fire started. In this episode, we hear the latest on PG&E, debris removal and the redesign of Paradise. We also hear from residents rebuilding in Coffey Park — a community in Santa Rosa that was destroyed in the Tubbs Fire a year-and-a-half ago. We also take a look at homelessness after the Camp Fire, and hear a story about the Helltown Hotshots – four men who stayed behind to help save their community.

The Camp Fire destroyed nearly everything in its path, but in the community of Helltown a few of the community’s icons were spared. That’s thanks to four friends who stayed behind and battled the fire. We now turn to independent producer Matt Fidler who learned the details of why the Centerville Museum and old school house are still standing.

We’ve been following the fire’s effects on homelessness, and spring is usually an important time for those providing shelter services. For many counties across California, spring means the numbers from the 2019 homeless Point-in-Time count are starting to roll in. But not in Butte County, which had to delay its count due to the deadly Camp Fire. KQED’s Michelle Wiley reports.

It’s hard to know what the new Paradise will be once it’s rebuilt and to know how many people will stay. For some possible insight we turn to a place that’s a year ahead in its fire recovery efforts.

Today, those determined to return home are gathering to talk about reconstruction the town. But many residents also met earlier this week at Paradise Alliance Church to weigh in on recovery plans. NSPR’s Marc Albert has more on both meetings.

The deadline to sign up for the state’s debris removal program passed earlier this week. Roughly 500 people still have not signed up to get debris removed from their property. Butte County officials are now considering gaining access to people’s homes through more extreme measures, as KQED’s Sonja Hutson reports.

Paradise residents, many determined to return home, gathered at the Paradise Alliance Church Tuesday evening, where they weighed in on the Camp Fire recovery plans.