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Jerry and Joyce McLean, dressed in an anti-spam suit, search for sentimental items in search of remnants of their home on Wednesday in Paradise, California.
Don Thompson / AP
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Don Thompson / AP
Jerry and Joyce McLean, dressed in hazmat suits, search for sentimental items in search of remains of their home on Wednesday in Paradise, California.
Don Thompson / AP
For Seth Roberts and the other residents of Paradise, California, Wednesday marked a sad homecoming.
"I'm in my yard and everything is gone," Roberts told NPR. "My house is gone, my shop is gone, my sheds are gone … There is nothing left, just a lot of charred things."
Nearly a month after the camp's fire decimated the city of northern California, authorities canceled evacuation orders. part of the eastern part of paradise, allowing people to come back and see what remains of their homes and businesses.
The wildfire – the deadliest and deadliest in California – killed at least 85 people, forced the evacuation of more than 50,000 people and destroyed thousands of structures in Paradise and communities neighbors. According to the Associated Press, eleven people are still missing.
Those who returned found a landscape composed of blackened trees and debris. Charred fireplaces and gangways were the only evidence that piles of rubble had once been mansions.
Roberts lived in a newly renovated house on two floors with his wife Tamara and their daughter-in-law and son-in-law. He says that they only had a few moments to evacuate when the fire rushed to them last month. they will now start digging in the ashes, looking for memories that could have survived. Roberts hopes to regain the alliance of his daughter, who has been left behind.
Tamara and Seth Roberts stand in front of the remains of their home in paradise during a brief visit on November 10. They were destroyed in the camp fire two days later. earlier.
Courtesy of the Roberts family
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Courtesy of the Roberts Family
Tamara and Seth Roberts stand in front of the remains of their home in paradise during a brief visit on November 10. They were destroyed during the camp fire two days earlier.
Courtesy of the Roberts family
On Sunday, residents of Magalia, which borders Paradise in the north, also had the chance to return home.
"It really looks like a bomb has exploded," Manny Carrasco told The Wall Street Journal . "All the houses in the neighborhood have been razed and the devastation has been total."
Although the fire was completely controlled 10 days ago, the authorities warned residents against the permanent dangers.
"Recent fires in California indicate that homes and properties destroyed by fire contain high levels and concerns of heavy metals, lead, mercury, dioxin, arsenic and others. Carcinogens ", indicates a warning regarding the Butte County fire recovery website. "Some goods may have the presence of radioactive material."
Officials said they would distribute protective gear, including full suits, rubber gloves and face masks. With most of the area destroyed, they also encouraged residents to bring their own food, fuel and water.
The lifting of the evacuation order is a first step in the long process of rebuilding and restocking Paradise. With so many homes destroyed, officials in the region say there is no clear roadmap for following through on this process. Displaced residents planted their tents in a Walmart parking lot following the fire. And locals have criticized the Federal Emergency Management Agency for not acting faster to establish temporary housing in trailers. Ryan Buras, head of FEMA's housing working group in California, defended the agency's work in an interview with NPR.
"I do not think that response has been slow," Buras said. "It's just the magnitude of this event that will stress us all at the state, county and federal level."
On Monday, schools in the area resumed classes for the first time since the fire. They take place in temporary classrooms and online. But Paradise High School Principal Loren Lighthall told NPR that the loss of homes and workplaces meant that students and families had left Paradise and California without plans to return.
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