SACRAMENTO, Calif — A California town is slowly rebuilding from wildfires even as new blazes threaten it. Most of the buildings in Paradise were destroyed in a 2018 wildfire. This week, smoke from a nearby fire darkened skies and prompted some residents to flee. Roughly 19,000 structures were destroyed during the 2018 fire in and around Paradise. Since then, the town has issued 1,051 building permits for single-family homes. Chuck and Janie Dee returned to their lot on Sunday. They left on Wednesday when another fire threatened the town. They later returned and said they still plan to rebuild.
In California, fires are burning more intensely than ever before. Megafires destroy entire neighborhoods. Some of the deadliest fires have been caused by our own electric grid, but all fires are burning worse because of climate change and an unhealthy forest landscape.