Year: 2019

Photo by Ken Pordes David Zink leading a group of players in the Norton Buffalo Hall, which was destroyed in the Camp Fire. Just one month after the Camp Fire had destroyed the Norton Buffalo […]

Photo by Ashiah Scharaga Michelle Evans, Enloe’s director of case management (left), and Transitional Skilled Unit Nurse Manager Debbie Strukan stand in a room at the Enloe Rehabilitation Center reserved for patients needing skilled-nursing care. […]

Tomorrow the town burns down. And I’m no more ready for it now than I was the first time. All week up here: remembrances, memorials, commemorations, tributes, groundbreakings, displays. But none of them really touches […]

The weeks leading up to this awful anniversary have been difficult, to say the least. Not nearly as rough as actually going through it, of course, but all the memories have been flooding back. Driving […]

“Just get past Nov. 8.” That’s what I’ve been telling myself for the past month. Amid the buildup of the Camp Fire one-year mark—my anxiety growing with each day lacking rain—that refrain has kept me […]

Photo by Douglas Keister Jess Mercer A wish for love Arts DEVO has watched the documentaries. If you’re a Camp Fire survivor, don’t. I was not directly involved in the fire, nor did I live […]

A year after the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in state history, Butte County is still in crisis. Things certainly have changed over the past 12 months, and there are many signs of progress. The […]

Photo by Douglas Keister Melissa Schuster, owner of Chapelle de L’Artiste arts/events complex, one of the portraits in People Places and Pieces of Paradise. Photo by Ron Schwager Colorful shards in post-fire wreckage of a […]

Art by Steve Ferchaud An evacuation scene from Finding Hope in Paradise If you’re one of the thousands who endured a fiery escape down the pitch-black Skyway on Nov. 8, 2018, it would be understandable […]

Photo by Andre Byik PG&E has begun trenching up the Skyway—part of the company’s long-term plan to underground 199 miles of local infrastructure. Since PG&E announced in May it would bury its electric distribution power […]

Photo by Meredith J. Cooper Cindi Dunsmoor, Butte County’s emergency services officer, encourages everyone to have a “go bag” filled with essentials in the case of a speedy evacuation. When the Camp Fire ignited nearly […]

Photo by Ashiah Scharaga Merle Loomis finds some necessities at the Magalia Community Church distribution center. Merle Loomis gently placed her hand over her heart as tears welled in her eyes. After the Camp Fire […]

Photo by Andre Byik Kevin and Sandy Lindstrom of Magalia Community Church jumped into fire-relief efforts as soon as they returned to the Ridge. The dragon chased Willie Snow out of Magalia. That’s the way […]

Triage mode. That’s how Pastor Kevin Lindstrom describes the ongoing relief efforts taking place at Magalia Community Church. Each month, the tiny chapel draws thousands of people whose lives were upended one year ago this […]

Photo by Meredith J. Cooper As a pyrogeographer, Zeke Lunder is an expert at mapping fires. Forest management has made a lot of headlines of late, what with wildfires growing in intensity and frequency, particularly […]