Camp Fire: They survived, their homes burned, where will Paradise residents go?

Nov. 15--For Christina Hixson, home now is a circle of tents pitched outside Chico's WalMart, where she, her 26-year-old son and her ex-husband have settled after the Camp Fire reduced the house in nearby Paradise where they lived to ashes.

"I just want to go home," Hixson said, weeping and clutching her dog and wishing she could return to her own bedroom.

The Camp Fire that started nearly a week ago continued to burn Wednesday -- having spread to 138,000 acres. It was just 35 percent contained. But local, state and federal officials surveying the damage from California's deadliest and most destructive wildfire are now confronting the daunting question of what to do with an entire town of more than 26,000 left homeless in its wake.

"It's one of the worst disasters that I've seen in my career, hands down," said Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long at a news conference Wednesday in Chico. FEMA officials, he said, will help local officials "navigate a very long and complex recovery."

"This is going to be extremely difficult," Long said. "When you have total losses like Paradise, you have to concentrate on helping communities bring back the infrastructure. Without the infrastructure, you can't rebuild businesses, and you can't support those who have homes left or those with temporary homes."

There were no official estimates of how many residents of Paradise and smaller nearby communities are still in need of temporary emergency shelter, though it was evident that many displaced residents had pitched tents outside large stores in Chico, 12 miles west of Paradise.

"We've talked to all the people in the parking lots," California Office of Emergency Services Director Mark Ghilarducci said at the news conference. "Many individuals are comfortable staying where they're at, and we don't want to push them into something that they don't want to be in. Our effort has been to move as expeditiously as possible to get them out of that environment."

But with so many displaced, nearby options for temporary housing were scarce. Jim Broshears, the former Paradise fire chief and the town's emergency operations center coordinator, said Paradise had roughly 12,000 total residential structures. Nearby Magalia had an additional 5,000.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Wednesday that the Camp Fire has destroyed 7,600 single-family homes and 95 multi-family apartments and damaged 115 other homes. It has killed at least 56, but the search continues for others reported missing.

Broshears said Chico, which escaped fire damage, is brim full, and displaced residents have spread as far as Fort Bragg and even out of state.

"There's 50,000 scattered," Broshears said. "Chico is bursting at the seams. There's no more room. It's stuffed, every space, every apartment, every motel room, every Airbnb is full."

Long said that for displaced residents who had insured homes, the first call should be to their insurance agent. But if they need any additional assistance, they should call FEMA, he said. President Trump signed a disaster declaration, freeing up federal aid for the fire victims.

FEMA spokeswoman Brandi Richard said FEMA aid can provide temporary housing, unemployment payments, low-cost business loans, coverage for home repairs and personal property damage. The aid doesn't duplicate what is covered by insurance but can supplement it, she said.

Ghilarducci said officials are working to move people from temporary emergency shelter to interim housing -- hotels, rental properties, even Airbnbs -- where they can stay for an extended period, putting their lives back together while officials work to restore their communities.

But that's proving to be a challenge, particularly for residents who will need to commute to their jobs to support their families, and who want to stay close to home.

"The reality is is that there are only a limited number of rental properties, so we may have to go out of the county or a little further out," Ghilarducci said. "We also know that this is where families reside and people go to church and other kinds of things, so we want to try to keep them as local as possible."

Officials are "looking now at the possibility of bringing in some sort of a travel trailer or some sort of a mobile home of some sort to be able to house folks," Ghilarducci said. But, he acknowledged, "that takes a little bit more time."

Katie Bolster, who is now staying in the garage of a shop on Park Avenue in Chico, said the home she was renting in Magalia is still there, though not much is left of her stretch of Wycliff Way at Cumberland Road. From what she can tell from watching TV news, the closest house to hers still standing is three doors down. She's already talked to her landlord, who she said wants to keep

her as a roommate and tenant.

"I won't have any neighbors," said Bolster. "I plan to move back, to see if it's livable."

For Bolster and others spared by the fire's wrath, the conversation has shifted to what they'll do while authorities work to restore power, phone service and other utilities.

"How are we going to live without power?" Bolster asked. "I've heard it could be out for a year."

Long said that while the government will do everything it can to help, the logistics are daunting and recovery will take a long time.

"Bottom line is, this is a very complex disaster, probably one of the most complex the nation has ever seen when it comes to Paradise," Long said. "First of all, there are sensitivities around debris. You can't just remove the debris because we're still looking for missing persons, and it takes time to be able to go through."

What's more, Long said, "the infrastructure is basically a total rebuild at this point."

"If you don't have the infrastructure and you move people back in, there's nothing to support 'em," Long said. "That's not a good move either. So we have to be very calculated."

Some are wondering if they will return. Bob Simpson, who with his mother lost their Paradise home and is now living in an RV that a stranger gave to him after the blaze, said that even before the Camp Fire, it was difficult to find fire insurance for homes in Paradise. He doesn't know if he'll rebuild.

"We own three acres," Simpson said, "but there's nothing there."

Hixson was living on a Section 8 housing voucher, and the process to remain on it is complicated. Her paperwork burned in the fire, and her $850-a-month voucher is set to expire. Sooner or later, the flames will give way to rain storms.

"I sure hope they extend it," Hixson, a former San Jose resident, said of her housing voucher.

Long said rebuilding will take years of planning and hard decisions, and the community will never be quite the same. FEMA, he said, is working 700 "open" disaster recoveries.

"This is going to be a very long and frustrating event for the citizens of Paradise," said Long. "But we have all got to work together to find a new normal."

------

Wildfire and shelter information: Is available online through the Governor's Office of Emergency Services at Wildfirerecovery.org

Federal Emergency Management Agency: Call 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) to register for federal disaster relief aid or go online at disasterassistance.gov

------

------

* Report an error

* Policies and Standards

* Contact Us

___

(c)2018 the San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.)

Visit the San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.) at www.mercurynews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.