PARADISE — While the immediate aftermath of the Camp Fire was filled with grief, confusion and various hurdles, the years that followed showcased the town of Paradise’s ability to roll with the punches and ultimately carry on.
The town has been deemed the fastest growing in California with a considerable number of people moving in, building homes and joining the community. Both the town and county governments have been instrumental in the growth process, offering services and programs to make this process easier for those returning, those who stayed and those coming in from the outside.
Colette Curtis, Paradise’s Director of Recovery and Economic Development, and her team have spearheaded many of the programs and operations to get the ball rolling on regrowth. This has included services such as free sign removal for businesses that burned down but still have a sign standing.
The recovery and economic development team seems to have struck a balance in how they communicate with the public from an empathetic standpoint. As Curtis had previously noted, the vast majority of town employees lost their homes and had to initially relocate, meaning they faced the same hardships as the general public and were able to find common ground which eventually led to creative and collaborative solutions to problems faced by those rebuilding.
After the Camp Fire, the town’s population dropped from 26,218 to 4,764. It took months at the time for those who remained to even be able to return to their homes. At the start of the 2023, Paradise’s population had increased to 9,142. Around the time of the wildfire’s fifth anniversary on Nov. 8, Curtis said she was confident that the town would break 10,000 in 2024.
Paradise of course has had help from partners such as Habitat for Humanity which is going into the new year with the goal of building 10 new homes for Camp Fire survivors. Additionally, the North Valley Community Foundation has aided in a number of ways financially to help the town and its partner organizations meet their goals.
Education has seen growth as well with Paradise High School opening its new main building which stands front and center on its campus, symbolizing the school’s formal return. In addition to a new main building, the Paradise Unified School District has invested about $64 million to update its other facilities. This includes upgrading the library, adding additional science buildings and building a new gym packaged with other sports facilities.
This was also the year that the town completed 21 sirens, placed strategically throughout Paradise to ensure the noise carried to residents should another disaster take place. In June, the sirens were successfully tested.
Economic development saw a large spike in 2023 as well with new businesses moving in and finding footing along with old businesses, such as Paradise staple Barney O’Rourke’s reopening earlier this year. Large commercial stores such as Ross, Tractor Supply and Big Lots have moved in as well.
The town still has hurdles ahead as there have been complications with insurance for homeowners, largely because of the loss of Adventist Health Feather River Hospital and no immediate plans to bring a major medical center back, but the growth trends for the town show substantial promise for its future.