Camp Fire debris removal officially completed
7.3 billion pounds of wildfire debris was transported out of Paradise
Just a little over a year since the Camp Fire devastated parts of Butte County, displaced thousands of residents and destroyed 19,000 structures, local, state and federal officials had a ceremony in Paradise celebrating the completion of the debris removal program that has been ongoing since February.
The program officially wrapped up its operations on Nov. 6. The process saw crews remove a total of 3,669,059 tons (or 7.3 billion pounds) of wildfire debris from nearly 11,000 sites. Of the materials removed, 2,908,986 tons were debris, ash and soil; 707,915 tons were concrete; and 52,158 tons were metal.
California Office of Emergency Services Director Mark Ghilarducci called the process a Herculean effort, and the numbers back that up. Debris crews hauled more than 305,000 truckloads and traveled a total of 28.2 million road miles, or the equivalent of 59 round trips to the moon. The tonnage removed equaled four Golden Gate Bridges, or 10 Empire State Buildings. At its peak, debris removal crews removed 44,000 tons of material in a single day.
Assemblyman James Gallagher said the task seemed insurmountable early on but all of the different organizations and groups like FEMA, CALOES, Calrecycle and the independent contractors worked together to accomplish the feat.
“This team behind me kept their focus and eye on the prize, and it’s amazing to be standing here a little over a year later with all of the debris removed. I think anyone who looked at this would’ve said it would take 18 months to two years, so I give a lot of credit to FEMA and the team that worked on this,” Gallagher said during Tuesday’s press conference. “…I think the greater thing is that this has provided an opportunity for people to begin to rebuild. You are seeing the strength of this town as it recovers and rises from the ashes stronger than ever before.”
Officials said 13 homes have been built in the town of Paradise since the fire, and there are hundreds of other permits that have been submitted for future building.
Now begins phase two of long-term recovery effort, which is tree removal. Ghilarducci said crews will work to identify and eradicate the most hazardous trees in the area impacted by the Camp Fire. That process will begin in January and will likely take around nine months to complete, he said.