This is honestly terrifying seeing so many people with the attitude of “oh it won’t happen again”. I’m sure nobody ever expected paradise to be burnt to the ground the first time. I totally get not wanting to leave a place that’s your home, but to build back in the exact same way without any thought of the threat of future blazes is illogical! I don’t understand how you can survive something as horrific as that and simply have the attitude of “we’ll be fine now”. This poor community

Lol as a Brazilian I just can't understand the people in America who brag about "the government shouldn't interfere on private contracts and such", people complain that here in Brazil the "judicial system" intervenes a lot, but the way the House Insurance and Health insurance companies deals with the ordinary people in U.S. is crap. The guy on 5:51 misses a single month and the insurance company don't cover his losses, this is absurd. Here in Brazil the "Superior Federal Court (that is differente from the Supreme Court) made parametrers about how insurance works. It's common to the contract to self renovate after 12 months, and if u don't pay a month or so the COMPANY NEEDS TO SEND YOU A LETTER AND NOTIFIES YOU THAT YOU'RE LATE ON A BILL, and THEN NEEDS TO GIVE YOU 30 DAYS TO PAY THAT, only after that period they can end the contract and not cover your losses. But if have an accident on that 30 day period, they need to cover (and you need to pay it), and it's THEIR JOB to PROVE that THEY NOTIFIED YOU. It's a matter of god faith, you can't expect that every one is not going to have an extraordinary event where they forget or don't have the money to pay on that month. That said, imagine you have a insurance for a period of 12 months, and you need to pay that monthly, if you pay 8 months, don't pay the 9th and then sh*t happens, the company can't say "ohh no we won't cover his losses, after all he didn't pay the 9th check" I mean WTF. After watching many decisions on courts on the U.S. it's obvious to me that judicial system is rigged from the ground up to keep those scummy companies prey on the weak part of a contract. And I see some americans like "ohh the market regulates itself, both parts are equal", yeah, one is a multimillion dollar company and the other part is an average joe, don't you think there should be at least some "advantages/protection" by the government/judicial system on the weaker side?

I lived about 20-30 minutes from paradise at the time. Woke up that day feeling like I was in a dream because it was a strange reddish twilight at 8 in the morning. Ended up lasting for weeks, and it would rain ash like silent Hill. It was truly insane.

My family lived in Paradise for 67 years. Never had anything like this happen here before. It's easy to say that you would'nt move back to an area after something tragic happens, but when it's the only place you know as home, you'd feel differently. The military took us away from home 18 years ago, but it's still home. We plan to retire in Paradise/Magalia. But, I tell ya what I am tired of seeing is "Gentrification Homes" pop up all over Paradise now. Housing is becoming unaffordable in our small little town. It wasn't before the fire. Watching predatory Contractors come in and screw people over, it's sad. The Paradise Town Council & Mayor need to do better to protect Paradisians cost of living expenses. I'm glad that the powerlines are going underground. We need to make sure PG&E updates all of their faulty equipment too! To any Paradisians reading this... I hope you're doing okay and please go enjoy some LaComida Chicken Tostadas or Meehos Super Nachos for me!! 🤘🏼🥰🤘🏼

That man really thinks this was only a 1 in a 100 year event.

I am a former firefighter that worked the 2006 Old Fire. We rushed home from a trip to Las Vegas when we saw the news on the tv in the hotel. We showed our ID's at the checkpoint so we could get to the station to deploy and drove through the orange glow past the abandoned goods of neighbors that they couldnt fit in their cars when they evacuated and sadly a lot of abandoned pets wandering in aimlessly in panic looking for their humans. This area burns over and over but people keep coming back and they never keep the scrub lands clean even though they've been warned that excess dry brush like chaparral is what goes up first. You still get people with chainsaws that spark out in the dry brush in the danger season. We all fought so hard, all while we on the line were getting random reports that our own homes in the same area were burning or were gone. No one ever learns their lesson. If they did we'd be doing more to combat the climate crisis.

I was born and grew up in paradise I now live 40 minutes away (due to the fire) and I can tell you first hand the only people who are moving back are people who where either extremely well off when the fire happened and got a large amount of insurance money or people who moved in with family and put their PGE lawsuit money together to buy a modular home. Everyone else is either in Magalia (just outside paradise) or Oroville/chico and the ones that didn't stay in California are in other states with family.

Her assumption that everywhere in the US has severe climate risk so you might as well live there is so dangerous. And so completely false.

A) Still in a fire-prone area. B) Insurance for homes is probably insanely high for the value.

As someone who studies wildfires, it's a complex mix of factors that bring people to return to a wildfire-prone area. Between 2000-2018, nearly 15 fires burned in or nearby the Camp Fire Perimeter, casting doubt on the ideas that this is a one-off event. While risk from disasters *is* everywhere, there is a big difference between building in a place where a high-damage low-probability event (earthquake) might occur and the California Foothills, where there are high-damage high-likelihood wildfires. Ultimately, the variables that influence the decision to stay or go differ between families - do they have the money to build elsewhere? Are there too many fond memories to leave? Do they have family nearby that can watch children? Ultimately, the reasons for staying or leaving are complex, but people should take care when they casually conflate hurricanes on the other side of the continent with wildfires, or ignore the hard-learned lessons of recent years.

The contractor guy really didn't learn a thing. Just done speaking about losing his home but then calls it unnecessary to build with concrete, fire proof material. I lived in apt that got so many cracks after an earthquake, wondering in the back of my mind if another one hits if the upstairs will collapse on us. Was so glad to move into an apt later on that had steel foundation to prevent such things. Building with disaster proof material should be standard by now.

it's surprising that the town hasn't passed laws that encourage fire-resistant home building

It's just weird to me that people building don't realize that these wildfires are not just a one off and build accordingly. Also, the towns/cities in wildfire zones don't make fire resistant building materials a mandatory part of their building codes.

The non-combustible house is beautiful who wouldn't want a house like that.

'always a risk'? Yeah,.. I live in an area of the east coast where 'risk' is low enough that my 180 year old home is not even the oldest one on the block. While all areas have some form of risk, that does not mean they are all equal. But the person is a realtor, so their primary motivation is trying to downplay risk factors to get a sale.

The real estate lady saying, “ if it’s not fires it’s hurricanes or flooding” is just so untrue for most of the United States. Natural disasters are a low risk for like 75% of the land in the US

It’s smart to build a combustible home in a area with a history of fire outbreaks…🙈

6:30 this man is in denial. He thinks that the fires won’t be back. Welcome to climate change, its definitely coming back sooner than a hundred years, I give him maybe a hundred days.

Just insanity. Who, in their right mind, would pay 400k plus to live in a wildfire prone area?

I was there that day, spent my whole life up there. It'll never be the same

i will never forget that day paradise was lost. i did not live there at the time i moved to chico where things was more easy for me. My family tho did live in paradise. hours and hours went by before i got word they was safe and ok. but sadly every house i lived in and house i spent my teenage years in all burned up. it still hurts today when i drive thru just remembering what it once looked like.

They live in wooden houses, they get burned down, they keep building houses from wood again in the same area. Fantastic choice people.

I feel their pain. We just had a bad fire here in Aromas California. Burned the forest down around us and melted our water tank for the house and the shed that the pump was in burned down. Haven't had running water in about a week now and since my family and I raise lots of different animals we are having to fill up big water jugs at the neighbors house and carry them to each of the animals to keep them watered. Still trying to clean up and it's just devastating. My heart goes out to all the victims of wildfires.

There are entire towns in Queensland Australia that flood pretty much every year. Each time it happens the people are waist deep in water being interviewed on TV all like "I cant believe this happened again" its kind of funny

Anyone who owns a home and has insurance understands how the policy works. They don't cancel you for being "a few days late." Your policy lapses after 30 days and even then it is easy to reinstate the policy by making the missed payments plus the next payment. He was very far behind in payments if he lapsed and they refused to reinstate.

Disgusting that these vultures are asking $500K for these little shacks in the middle of nowhere.

US citizens realizing there are non-wooden houses that can withstand fires and hurricanes: 😧

The insurance companies just need to deny insurance for homeowners not willing to build a fire proof home in a documented wildfire area. Or the city should not grant a building permit for the same reason. Firefighters should not have risk their lives for a known target. Some people have to live in denial to survive, others don't have to die for it.

Worked up in paradise for years clearing trees for PG&E right up to the Camp fire, it was devastating to see this but it wasn't surprising. PG&E neglected the fire hazards their power lines presented up there for years and we had safety meeting daily regarding those fire hazards but PG&E rather save money and put more money in their pockets then the safety of their customers.

CA should buy these people out and return the land to nature. It will be increasingly unsustainable to live in these areas as warmer, dryer seasons continue to lengthen and water scarcity intensifies. It’s irresponsible to expect fire fighters and emergency response to continue to put their lives on the line unnecessarily.

Was a junior at chico state when the campfire happened. I had an 8am that morning and the sky looked like a sunset at 8am. I didn't know it was a fire at the time. Had classes till 12pm and by then all classes were canceled remainder of the week and I had a 2 week long vacation. It was crazy. Went back a week after the beginning of the fire to get some stuff and it was grey and raining ash in the middle of the day. Super scary stuff

Come to Australia, this is normal for us every year. It's insane being in a wild fire or living near one, they are very hard to stop or even slow down if it's dry enough. You should at least put in a small underground bunker with supplies so you can save lives.

People knowingly buy ocean front homes that will eventually slide into the ocean. They buy homes in Florida where areas are prone to flooding due to land sinkage.

I lived in Cockatoo, Victoria, Australia for a few years. It's a town that was completely razed by the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires. The house I rented was built on the rubble of the previous build, which was newly built in 1983. The owners built it and the fires destroyed it soon after. So they had it bulldozed and built another house on top. Summers in that town were something else. I'm glad I moved on, it was a worry being in such a fire prone area. Always checking fire information websites and double checking that warning sms messages were activated. My place was surrounded by a white mountain ash grove. Trees that perpetuate via fire.

INSANITY Is : Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results 🔥🔥🔥

Wait... people from outside of CA are moving in to Paradise, CA of all places? Why???

I will never understand how someone can go through a tragedy, lose everything on a whim of fate- and then turn around and say that precautions are “kinda unnecessary”. There are so many ways to build more sustainably, and one of the best things about humans is our ability to learn from our mistakes. Imagine if they had continue building bridges and high rises in California the same way after the 94’ earthquake. That 7.0 two years ago would have been devastating. Why do we treat this differently?

I'm moving to Cali in the next year, and I'm planning to build with steel. Fire has never been in the area, but I'm planning ahead.

One of the victims here. House was in the hottest point in the fire, i still have issues today. Watching this video was hard, one of the clips was my aunts house and that was my cousins bike. I love these videos

They should cover all in dirt, Soil and grasses over the entire roof

The people of Lytton BC would like to have a word with that contractor regarding fire return intervals. I don’t think California’s drought situation is going to magically plateau for the next 100 years.

Every single day my head is filled with thoughts of paradise and moving back, raising my kids in my old stomping grounds, camping, fishing, shooting, days at the river, cutting down xmas trees every year up in the snow, drive down the hill to chico for weekend races. I can say 100% if money wasnt a factor id move back today.

My aunt, uncle & cousin lived in Paradise when I was growing up in the late 80s/90s. I remember visiting them in the winter and seeing snow for the first time- a truly magical place! So sad for all these folks, but love how committed that couple is to helping rebuild. What a strong sense of community events like this must provoke. Hopefully, California can learn from such a tragic event.

“…oh it’s definitely risen in the past few years…” he stammers when asked if $499,000 is “normal” for the area. That really pissed me off. Realtors and developers and builders: *YA’LL ARE THE REASON NO ONE CAN BUY A HOME NOW* let’s be honest. It happened here in Paradise, it’s happened in my town after every flood and hurricane, and it’s happening in Maui as we speak and it will happen wherever the next “natural disaster” plays out. And people see “an opportunity” to make some $$. Realtors and developers: you don’t HAVE to raise you commissions, you don’t HAVE to see a piece of land “as how much $$ can I make off this” you can just let it all stay the same. So the people that WERE there and lost it all can afford to rebuild in their same place. Builders and developers: you don’t HAVE to raise your materials pricing AS HIGH even when the market raises prices. Sure, the lumber prices skyrocketed, prices on “builder grade” materials and appliances from overseas skyrocketed- but then they readjusted and dropped some. Yet the majority of wholesalers and suppliers KEPT prices at the highest level. Which means stores kept THEIR prices higher. (THIS is REAL trickle down economics) Making new home prices spike. Which made old home prices spike. Even undeveloped land prices spiked. And haven’t or won’t readjust and drop. So really the hope of homeownership is just gone for my generation and the two that come next. And yes, I know the FED fucked us all in interest rates, but if prices weren’t as high, a 7% interest rate wouldn’t hurt so bad. imho.

Funny how they could build resistant to fire but they just choose not to. Yeah there are disasters everywhere but people build with them in mind, at least when they’re smart. “It won’t happen again.” With that attitude, he guarantees it will.

My Moms best friend lost her home and the community has not rebuilt yet. Some time back you could buy lots for 5 and 10k .. still scary and unsettling to live there. She seemed to think this was the only place in the US she could afford .. there are very few places in CA that we’re as affordable as Paradise once was. Sad about the gentleman with AAA homeowners insurance that didn’t cover it. I have them as well snd they allow up to 30 days of the due date. Very sad for him 💔

Cheers to the locals who can rebuild for sure I can not even imagine. 🙏🏽👊🏽

I live in a state that I don’t worry about hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, Flooding and wildfires. We sometimes get blizzards but not often.

They are building steel quonset type houses, but even steel can melt in a blazing fire. And maybe the exterior of the huts might withstand a wildfire, you certainly wouldn't want to stay inside them while a wildfire is going on. The heat would b intolerable, and many things inside the home would melt. You still have to evacuate. Your hut would be color tarnished and ugly. And from what i remember, a MAJOR problem was there was only one way in and one way out. The exit roads were inadequate, and that problem killed a lot of people.

"We simply couldn't get enough of the fun we had last time, so we decided to rebuild in the exact same spot hoping we're not too late for this year's fire"

Much Gratitude for sharing

Smart building this way and love the drought resistant plant landscape too. People need to also keep in mind that everywhere has it's natural disasters flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes, extreme snowstorms, earthquakes, and even volcanoes. You just have to adapt to whatever environment you choose to live.

For a location trying to rebuild high prices keeps that process delaying.

Respect to the construction worker, rebuilding other's lives and his own. His perseverance is commendable.

I've lost my home to hurricane Ike.... I'm still here in a different home now... I get it

It sucks that not everyone is able to to rebuild their home.

I knew it was paradise, when I saw the thumbnail . I’m happy they’re rebuilding.

I was born here. I can’t believe we made it to Vice!!!! Ptown stand up! 🤗

Hell ya, i am really considering this instead of building a house. Thanks for the info!

All of California is a potential wildfire risk. Like wtf is this about, this feels like very lazy journalism. It's like asking people in towns where there's tornados, why don't they make their house out of lead so it doesn't fly away. This video bothers me for some reason.

So sorry that he lost his house, hope hes able to build one again.

I lived here d during the fire. My son was born in Paradise as well. Paradise will always be home!

Vice, what is the name of the insurance company that canceled the contractors policy for making a late payment?

PG&E failed to upkeep vast swaths of equipment and transformers were in disrepair, causing sparks ⚡️ to hit the fan on a rural community due to PG&E’s inexcusable irresponsibility. C’mon Vice, did PG&E pay you to say windstorm & drought conditions?! Total bull 🤢

How much is that fireproof house might be very interesting

Anyone moving there should not be supported by taxpayer dollars, no disaster relief dollars should be spent on any potential rebuilds. These policies should apply to all common, regular disaster area. Common sense needs to be more common. Wealthy home owners in the Hampton that rebuilt on shifting dunes, should not be given a dine of taxpayer dollars. Lower middle class or poor people rebuilding in an area annually plagued with wildfires should not be afforded taxpayer dollars to rebuild in high risk area. Times are a changing, these areas are not going to return to previous norms, period.

Wow that’s crazy

Wish nothing but good for that community

Hubris, we should stop wasting public resources fighting these fires that threaten only spoiled families who insist on living in a fire zone.

3 mins in and the only seemingly logical person with a brain is the first woman that is making her home fireproof but even then wildfires are fucking terrifying so idk if it’s worth the headache especially when we are in a worse drought now then in 2018.

Quit insuring assets that aren’t built to handle regional risks. A timber frame home in a wildfire area is like having a slab home next to the Louisiana coast.

This is the same mentality people in New Orleans had/have and look how it turned out for them

Between time you canned this and posted today 8/2 a lot has changed in real estate landscape. .. be curious to see prices have discounted.

I def. feel very sorry for all the people who lost their homes, but I don't understand why you would still build wood frame houses? Maybe it's because here in Germany houses are build with modern, so called "massiv insulation stones" ("Massivbau-Wärmedämmstein" is the wonderful German word for these type of stones with different core materials like concrete etc.) for decades now (the materials have been improved obviously over the last years). Especially a combination with "Kalksandstein" (sand-lime bricks) would be very good for fire protection. It's surely a thing of tradition, but wouldn't it help to at least build a bit more safe against fire or is there no real market for these materials in the USA and importing would cost too much? Sorry for the dumb questions... I just know that the USA is superior in so many things when it comes to building, that's why I'm wondering.

Lived in oroville my whole life, bout 20 minutes from paradise. Helped repair sections of the hospital & build new houses. Can confidently say everyone moving up here from Southern California has completely FUCKED this community. Pretty fucked up to see a tragedy like this & then proceeded to buy up land from people who lost their homes so they can't even afford to rebuild one day

“Burned down in the campfire” doesn’t look like much of a campfire 🤦‍♂️

Curious how the homes burned and not the trees

Gov. Gav Newsum made moves with pee gee and ee ... which proved to be a huge disrespect to my peeps in Cali

because its well known that metal doesn't bend or collapse under heat...

You honestly think that this perfect storm of dry heat and high temperatures for long periods will never happen again!! I predicted it will and could be worse.

"it will never happen again" famous last words fire like the camp fire are becoming much more common, so umm good luck but I would also build a bunker at my house if I lived there.

Paradise AKA silent hill. Imagine how haunted that town is.

What a stupid comment made by the guy who is asking the questions. Why move in a high risk area where wildfires are common?! First of all…Paradise has been around for decades and this was the first time a fire went through the town. So it’s not like it happens every year. Second of all, the fire in Paradise was NOT a natural disaster. The camp fire was man made. PGE is actually the responsible party. And Paradise Magalia areas is a beautiful place to live. Can’t wait for the trees 🌲 to grow back!! It’s what makes the place beautiful!! Trees 🌲 🌲 trees 🌲 Trees

5:07 absolute unit

No insurance and he moves forward so see it's not the end of the world just a bump in the road of life and to see people building smarter is a great thing because it could happen again Mother Nature has her own timetable.

Who the hell can afford a half a million dollar home these days.

Ever since the calis moved down to texas now we have no rain and its been dry AF

How could that guy try to sell a house on top of where someone could've easily lost their life

I live in paradise still and also lost my house in the fire Pretty cool to see yall here

My friends whose house burned down in this fire had her fire gun safe MELT from the heat...completely melt. Noncombustible, until it isn't. That home looks cool though.

Whats the fire insurance like now?

People like to lose everything over and over.

This is crazy to be seeing

I can understand both sides. The ones who do not expect the same disaster again depending on probability theorie (but they forget, that we do not live in the 17th, 18th or 19th century anymore and the climate is changing) and the ones who think: "I will take the risk, it is a wonderful place to live at and I am prepared mentally". People die in earth quakes (Turkey 1999, 2023), hurricanes, floods accidents and so on. But we should do anything possible to prevent problems like that. This does not mean "We build better streets to escape", it means "We will give our best to save this planet for our children and regard situations like that when reconstructing houses, streets or making plans for evacuation. (Bet my English is terrible...I am German and try my best)

How can you make a video about this and not mention the negligence of PG&E? Yes it's a wildfire area but this was not a naturally caused fire.

*The house might not combust, but that doesn’t mean the stuff inside won’t either* 🤦🏽‍♂️

My roommate saw a man on fire, running for his life. The picture of the fireplace... There were just fireplaces left of the houses. It was almost funny in the darkest, most ironic way. Fireplaces with the homes formerly attached to them burnt away.

What sane bank will even give you a loan to build there? Which sane insurance is even willing to insure your house at decent rates? This is baffling.

The truth is that humans are resilient and tend to stay where they've been despite natural disasters. Tornadoes and floods in the Midwest and people still live there. They will rebuild in Kentucky. Hurricanes are a permanent risk along the South and east coast yet people deal.

im glad it has been raining more in CA lately.