Economic Development Recovery and Resiliency Playbook - Flipbook - Page 38
Case Study: Recovery
The 2018 Camp Fire in the
Town of Paradise
On November 8, 2018, the Camp Fire ignited in Pulga, a small
community about 8 miles east of the Town of Paradise. At that
time, Paradise was an incorporated town of 26,500 residents
and 1,200 businesses, including a full-service hospital,
and served as a bedroom community for the surrounding
communities in Butte County. Due to a combination of high
winds, drought conditions, and very dry vegetation, the fire
quickly spread at a rate of 80 football fields per minute and
ultimately destroyed the Town of Paradise within hours. The
Camp Fire consumed 18,000 residential and commercial
structures, representing 90 percent of the town. All 26,500
residents were forced to evacuate, along with another 25,000
from surrounding communities. The fire burned with such
intensity that underground pipes in culverts melted, roads
were scarred, utility poles ignited and fell into roadways, and
residents were at times forced to abandon their cars and
evacuate on foot. Most tragically, 85 people perished in the
fire, which was the most destructive and deadliest wildfire in
California history to date.
A disaster of this magnitude causes extreme damage to the
infrastructure of a town or city and makes recovery much
more dificult. Numerous lessons have been learned since the
2018 Camp Fire, and many of these illustrate the foundational
importance of infrastructure in all aspects of recovery.
Lesson Learned: Infrastructure
Inventory is Important
By a fortunate coincidence, the Town of Paradise had
conducted a road condition analysis several months before
the Camp Fire occurred. This analysis was done with the
intention of showing the gap between available gas tax and
grant funding and the need to bring many of the town’s
roads to a better standard; however, afer the Camp Fire,
this analysis served as a foundation for recovery plans.
While this initial inventory helped start the discussion
with recovery partners such as the California Ofice of
Emergency Services (Cal OES) and the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA), more data was needed to
make the case for funding to repair roads afer the fire.
Knowing that the debris removal operations would cause
a great deal more damage to roads with thousands of
heavily loaded trucks driving through town, public works
and recovery staf initiated a detailed road surface damage
analysis, using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) remote
imaging technology to document every crack and pothole.
Nine months later, when debris removal was complete, a
second LiDAR analysis was done to document the damage
incurred. This data enabled the town staf to apply for and
receive $77 million in funding through the Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA) to repave all publicly maintained
roads in Paradise — a huge win not only for public
infrastructure, but also for economic recovery. Damaged
roadways were a major barrier for businesses trying to
reopen and for patrons attempting to reach them.
Lesson Learned: Have a Recovery
Strategy with Community Buy-In
While Paradise spent a great deal of time and energy
preparing for emergencies, less thought went into recovery
planning, which is very common among city and county
ofices of emergency management. In previous smallerscale disasters, the Town of Paradise’s recovery consisted
of only a few days or weeks of cleanup conducted primarily
with town resources. The Camp Fire’s scope necessitated
a very diferent response with a recovery period likely to
last at least a decade. Having a pre-disaster recovery plan
is an important part of emergency planning that is ofen
overlooked, but even afer disaster strikes, your community
can still put together a plan for recovery.
Significant repairs are typically needed afer extensive debris
removal severely damages roadways, which
Paradise experienced following the Camp Fire.
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CALED | Economic Development Recovery and Resiliency Playbook
In February 2019, three months afer the Camp Fire, the
Town of Paradise launched a four-month community
planning efort led by Paradise residents to develop
