The Camp Fire Destroyed 11,000 Homes; A Year Later Only 11 Have Been Rebuilt

The sun is setting at a construction site on "the ridge," as locals call it. Towering pine trees with their bark still black from wildfire are lit up in orange.

And Chip Gorley and some buddies are about to crack open cans of IPA to celebrate some rare good news.

His foundation inspection passed, meaning they can start putting up the walls on Gorley’s new home. It’s on the exact site of where he lost everything in the Camp Fire a year ago.

"It’s my home," Gorley says. "I’m coming back."

Like most who survived the historic wildfire, Gorley remembers it all that terrifying morning — the exploding propane tanks, the snapping of burnt tree limbs, that moment he thought he might die during a chaotic evacuation.

But for him at least, talking about it and being open as the anniversary approached has helped.