PARADISE, Calif. — Nov. 8 will mark five years since the Camp Fire began raging through Butte County, destroying the town of Paradise.

The deadliest wildfire in California’s history took the lives of 85 people and destroyed over 14,343 homes. 

Butte County Supervisor Doug Teeter moved to the area from Inglewood in the mid-1970s when he was in the 5th grade.

“It was like having that Huck Finn experience growing up — walked down to the river to go swimming every day after school. It was really unique and quite different from my Southern California early childhood,” Teeter said.

Teeter graduated from Paradise High School and raised his children in his hometown. He remembers the horror that erupted when the Camp Fire started.

“The fire just engulfed us and it was just pitch black. Just flames and embers flying everywhere. Pretty scary — I didn’t think I’d make it,” Teeter recalls.

Teeter and his family were able to evacuate safely, though their home was lost in the fire.

Five years later, all 3.7 million tons of debris have been cleared, schools have reopened and Paradise is one of the fastest-growing cities in the state with 9,142 residents.

Teeter was one of the many community members who gathered at the California State Capitol on Thursday to celebrate the progress being made to rebuild, while paying homage to the lives lost.

Paradise Mayor Greg Bolin highlighted the incredible work it took to get Paradise the town up and running again.

The Camp Fire destroyed 90% of the town’s structures and the population went from 26,650 to 0 overnight.

In the last half decade, approximately 3,000 homes have been completed in Paradise. There are 978 homes currently under construction, with an additional 400 waiting to break ground.

“Working within my community to rebuild people’s homes and lives has been more than an honor than I could even imagine,” Bolin said.

The mayor adds Paradise is on track to have all its roads repaved by 2026 and the town has installed 21 early warning systems, which he hopes are never used.

State leaders have also aided in the Camp Fire recovery. Assembly Republican leader James Gallagher, who represents Paradise in the legislature, has made fire recovery one of his top priorities. He remembers the devastation that broke out five years ago.

“That terrible day is still seared in our minds, but the hope we’ve seen is so overwhelming,” Gallagher said. “From that moment on it was like, hey, we gotta do everything we can to help that community recover and come back.”

This year, Gallagher authored Assembly bill 1249, which allowed for compensation from the Fire Victims Trust to be distributed tax–free.

He’s also supported efforts to streamline the housing process and helped secure $1 million in the state’s budget for Habitat for Humanity to build more affordable housing.

“The reason why we’re really here is to work toward solutions to help people and that’s a really heartening thing to be able to work across the aisle,” Gallagher noted.

For Teeter, he hopes to have his new home rebuilt by next summer. He says the biggest challenge still ahead is dealing with insurance. A problem he hopes state and federal leaders can come together to solve.

“Rural county living is being tested. And it’s not just Paradise. It’s not just the camp fire. It’s all these communities that have been affected by disaster and the insurability is really going to put it to test,” Teeter said.

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