It’s been more than a week since hundreds of families fled to the Walmart parking lot in Chico after they were forced to leave their homes.
Many of the Camp Fire survivors packed their belongings and left the unofficial camp and donation site on Sunday.
In a statement, Butte County officials said, “People staying in the parking lot are not being forced to leave, however, rain is currently in the weather forecast for the area in the next several days, and Butte County and the City of Chico want to ensure that all evacuees displaced by the Camp Fire have a safe, dry, and clean place to stay.”
Walmart officials also told ABC10 they were not forcing evacuees to leave.
Troy and his 9-year-old son, Preston, were one of the dozens of people who moved to the shelter at the Butte County Fairgrounds in Gridley.
“I had to rent the U-Haul just to carry out the stuff that they gave us,” Troy said, as he packed all the donated items he received from volunteers.
Troy and Preston went to the Walmart parking lot in Chico because they wanted to stay with their friends.
“This is where they’re all at, and it’s like home. Even though it’s rough at times, it just felt good to be with friends and people I knew,” he added.
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The Magalia resident didn’t lose his home, but since his neighborhood is still under a mandatory evacuation order, he and thousands of others can’t go back yet.
Troy says he understands why Walmart and Butte County officials are encouraging people to leave that location.
“We’re going to have rain on Wednesday and with all this ash and stuff when it gets wet, it’s going to soak down into these little puddles and they’re worried about that, which I can understand," he said.
A spokesperson for Butte County told ABC10 there are plans to turn the former Toys ‘R’ Us store in Chico into a distribution center for Camp Fire survivors to pick up whatever items they need.
Officials say it will not be a donation drop-off site.
As of Sunday, volunteers had moved many of the items that were at the Walmart parking lot to the Toys ‘R’ Us parking lot.
Watch episode 8 now: California’s leaders tell us we’ve entered a “new normal” of more intense wildfires. The truth is: Experts think the deadly mega-fires we’ve seen are just a preview of the new normal.