Much of the Town of Paradise and the surrounding communities were destroyed by the Camp Fire in November 2018.
But there are still thousands of people who didn’t lose their homes, and they still living the in the burned out areas.
With most of the businesses in the area closed, damaged and destroyed immediately following the evacuations, people living in burned out areas reported having to travel at least 40 miles to get basic needs, like food, water, and toiletries.
The only grocery store in the unincorporated community of Magalia raced to open once evacuations were lifted to serve the needs of the community, said manager Shawn Anderson of Save-Mor.
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Forty-nine of the store's 84 employees lost their homes, Anderson said. Still, about a third of the employees showed up to work and were able to get the store partially opened by December 22 and just in time for Christmas.
“Just a sense of normalcy for them to come in and see things back to the way it was before,” Anderson said. “And get back to a routine before this all happened.”
Long-time customer Krista Dunlap says she had to travel to Chico, about 20 miles from her home, to get groceries when evacuations were first lifted in December. She is glad to have her neighborhood grocery store back up and running.
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Vincent Fiorenza works in the meat department at the grocery store. His family lost their home in Paradise during the fire.
“You know, whatever it takes to keep the community up and running. Trying to just keep people the best we can, calm you know,” Fiorenza said.
He currently commutes 25-miles to work from Oroville where he’s staying with family until finds a permanent housing.
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