'Some Days I'll Cry And Some Days I Won't': 3 Months After Wildfire, Paradise Residents Focus On Future

It's been more than three months since California's most destructive wildfire killed 85 people and nearly wiped out the town of Paradise. Some of those who were displaced by the fire have been displaced a second time after the town decided people could not live on burned-out properties until debris cleanup was completed.

The Paradise Alliance Church is hosting some of the residents in its parking lot. Melissa Boutelle, a church worker who is helping organize the campers there, tells Here & Now's Eric Westervelt (@Ericnpr) that they would like to welcome more people, but they need to be vetted by the county first.

"The people that are out there just keep to themselves. I honestly haven't seen them," Boutelle says. "It's cold and it's rainy and it's wet, and I don't hear generators out there, so I feel bad for them."

Boutelle is like many others in Paradise who lost their homes in the fire and are waiting for their property to be cleaned before they can return. Debris removal has begun, but the task ahead is daunting. It's expected to be one of the largest debris removal projects since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks at ground zero in New York.

"For myself personally, having the property cleared, I think, is another sense of loss because there's not a place for me to go back to where it resembles my home at all. I have seen a couple lots that are cleared, and it's just dirt," Boutelle says. "More trees come down, and I go back to my property and the beautiful tree line between my neighbors and I is now just laying across my front yard."

Boutelle and her family lived in their home for 13 years, and she says the loss of everything has been an adjustment. Luckily, she says, they were able to move into an apartment, and she was able to keep her job at the church.

"All of the sudden everything you know is gone and different, and I guess that's something I wish people could understand because there's a sense of you're forgotten here, and we understand that that's how that goes," Boutelle says. "But we, on the day to day, are doing well. I drive to Paradise every day to go to work, and so some days I'll cry and some days I won't."

Residents of Paradise are divided on how to rebuild the town, and Boutelle says a larger conversation between residents and town officials about how to move forward has just begun.

Ashley Bailey produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Kathleen McKenna. Samantha Raphelson adapted it for the web.