Smoke billowed from the now-infamous road leading to Patti Lloyd on the Skyway as the city of Pavidas was blowing through the foothills of the City Nevada.
It’s a very familiar sight in this part of Northern California, where a state fire nearly two years ago killed 85 residents and destroyed 27,000 and most of the suburbs of neighboring communities.
This time the smoke comes from the fire west zone of the North Complex, where 252,313 acre-flames, which started last month in Plumas County, were killed by running from the foothills to the village of Barry Creek at the bottom. At least nine people.
Lloyd was carrying boxes to her newly built home in the city of Lloyd, which lost the old in the hell of 2018. “It’s scary,” he said. “It already stimulates a lot of emotions. I feel bad for the people who go through it now because I know what it feels like. “
Part of Heaven was under evacuation warning earlier this week, although the order has since been revoked. Still, the dark skies, the crowded roads and the thick blanket of smoke, which still brought back painful memories of the community fighting for reconstruction. Smoke billowed over the city like fog on Friday, and ash rye over the sidewalk spread out through the air.
Because of the fire, Lloyd, an artist, questions whether he wants to return to an area that is likely to always pose a threat to wildlife. But for now, Lloyd says, she and her boyfriend have intentions. They have a beautiful new home waiting, with a studio where Lloyd can create his art. The trees are gone, but their rose and lavender garden has survived, and Lloyd will wait to return and be among friends.
“Everyone who went through the fire is now bound,” he said.
Iris Natividade, who lost her partner, Andrew Downer, home and dog two years ago, plans to build a lot more on the city’s east coast again. Those evacuated when the evacuation warning came into effect on Tuesday.
“It simply came to our notice then. Like Skyway, the fire in the camp was backed up. All were terrified. ”
From this experience she made a second assumption of her plans to rebuild, especially since her future home could be in the first hit if the campfire flares up again. For now, he remains adamant. He argued that fires were burning all over the west. “You can’t run with it. This is climate change. This is our life now. ”
He added, “Heaven is my home.” “I do not live in fear. I can rebuild and do what I can to save myself and stay active and learn what I can do to stay in the fire zone. “
Most of Paradise’s former residents have settled in other Butt County towns, while an estimated 3,000 residents have returned to the town itself. Those who have chosen to live and work on the ridge share a sense of determination to create a beautiful place to live again.
“If you don’t dream of it, it won’t happen,” said Bill Hartley, who is preparing to rebuild his home, and is involved in several revival efforts. Despite the heavy smoke outside, the mood was positive for the Knicks in heaven as Hartley ate lunch on Friday afternoon and ran into friends and colleagues.
“Everywhere you go you have to make a fresh start,” Hartley said. “Here we start with friends.”
It was a spirit introduced by 75-year-old Nicky Jones, who inaugurated Nick just last year.
Jones, whose new home will be ready for a move-in next month, said that despite the fire threat, she did not want to live anywhere else. Business has been good, she said, although the Covid-19 epidemic brought new challenges.
He said, ‘I love what I do and I love my city.’ “It keeps me going.”
On the way to the antique store Treasures from Paradise, customers rushed in during the afternoon, although the store was not technically open. Barbara and Rick Manson planned to close the shop on Friday, to clear the thick ash outside and the porch with the porch, but customers were coming, looking for a piece of normalcy among other disasters. The mansions could not remove them.
“A lot of people get hurt. I think people thought the fire was behind us, “said Barbara Manson. The couple opened a new location in 2019 after losing their 18-year-old store in a camp fire.
“We’ll stay here until that space burns around us,” a handful of customers walked around the store, admiring the tiny bit of antiques and inspecting paradise-themed items, T-shirts and metal signs.
“It won’t burn here again,” said her husband, Rick. “She can’t.”
However, they took their important paper out of the store, and Rick wet the grass. Just in case.
