USA TODAY International Edition
In the ashes, decisions await
Residents must decide: ‘Would you want to live in a war zone?’
PARADISE, Calif. – Thousands of wildfire-weary Californians face financially and emotionally difficult years ahead as they begin rebuilding their homes and communities destroyed by the rampaging flames.
In Northern California where the Camp Fire still burns, 6,543 homes have been destroyed, along with hundreds of businesses. Near Malibu, the Woolsey Fire has destroyed about 370 structures.
Most evacuees have no idea how their homes fared
because evacuation orders keep the public from the dangerous, unhealthy conditions caused by the Camp and Woolsey fires. Though a few people know – including actor Gerard Butler and singer Robin Thicke – most evacuees are stuck waiting for information, begging reporters for updates and trying to finagle their way past road closures.
Matt McNeill, 53, knows his house is gone. It burned down in Paradise as he desperately fled in his car from the flames, scooping up neighbors on the way. He has homeowner’s insurance but isn’t sure he’ll rebuild. A general contractor, McNeill has been building homes in Paradise since 1990. He faces the thought of returning to a community vastly different from the one he fled.
The commercial district lies in ruins, dozens of business and municipal facilities are destroyed. Thousands of burned trees will have to be cut down for safety, changing how Paradise looks for years to come.
“Would you want to live in a war zone for a decade or more?” McNeill said by text. “But then, our kids grew up there – great, great memories, beautiful people.”
From thousands of feet in the sky, specialists working for the nation’s insurance companies take photos that building inspectors, assessors and firefighters can use to help.
“Underneath that smoke are people’s lives that have come unraveled,” said Jim Schweitzer, senior vice president and chief operating officer of the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
The NICB works with insurance companies to fight insurance-related fraud and crime, including vehicle thefts, but also to combat disaster-related fraud. In some cases, unscrupulous contractors perform shoddy work or conspire to get insurance companies to pay for extra work not caused by a disaster, which can bring felony charges and void a homeowner’s coverage.
The stakes are high in the fires, which threaten nearly 50,000 homes valued at about $18 billion, according to propertydata company CoreLogic. The value of the destroyed homes has not been compiled because authorities don’t have a complete assessment of the damage.
For others, the routine of work provides some level of normality. Butte County sheriff’s Deputy Brian Evans, 42, is still on the job even though his house burned down before he could grab anything from it. Wearing his uniform, which is pretty much the only clothing he owns, he spent the weekend helping search for those missing.
Disasters such as the Paradise and Woolsey fires inevitably change the face of a community for decades. Some evacuees will never return. Some homeowners will choose to rebuild elsewhere. Small businesses may go under, and employment may be hard to come by for the thousands of people whose cars were destroyed. Evans said he’s committed to seeing it through. This is his home, after all.
“It will take a while. But it will get better. It always does,” he said.