"It's been five years since a sudden shift in the wind brought the North Complex fire roaring up a remote canyon into the pines of Berry Creek, where it incinerated almost all of the more than 1,500 houses in the area and killed 16 people. But to many of the hundreds of people who remain in the mountain hamlet in Butte County, the blaze that burned through their homes and"
"A Times analysis has found that only about 5% of the homes that were burned have been rebuilt, the lowest percentage of major fires in the state over the last eight years by a gigantic margin. Hundreds of residents left, never to return. Some concluded it was foolhardy to even consider rebuilding in such a fire-prone place. But hundreds more stayed - and without homes, people have been camping out year after year amid a fire-denuded landscape in mobile homes and lean-tos."
"The situation is in stark contrast to the rebuilding efforts in more suburban communities, like Santa Rosa and Redding, where construction was buzzing along two years after the flames. The era of mega-fires is causing a little noticed climate migration that is reshaping life for thousands of people in California's backwoods, pushing small, self-reliant mountain communities to the brink of extinction."
Five years after the North Complex fire, Berry Creek’s pines and most of its more than 1,500 homes were incinerated and 16 people were killed. Only about 5% of burned homes have been rebuilt, leaving hundreds of residents living in RVs, mobile homes and lean-tos amid charred stumps and bare branches. About 80% of Berry Creek School children sleep in mobile housing. Hundreds left permanently while hundreds more remain without homes. Rebuilding in Berry Creek lags far behind suburban areas where construction resumed within two years. Remote location, limited infrastructure, sparse population and low financial resources hinder recovery and spur climate-driven out-migration.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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