Comstock's magazine 1119 - November 2019 | Page 52

n DEVELOPMENT
n a cool summer day in Paradise, the kind that heralds
the start of autumn, residents from across Butte County
descended upon Noble Orchards with buckets, bags and boxes.
The Noble family, a longtime fixture in Paradise, estab-
lished their business in 1921 when apple farms were the main
economic driver of the small town nestled in the tall pines.
Ninety-seven years later, the latest generation is dealing with
a tragedy that not only nearly wiped out their family busi-
ness, but has destroyed their idyllic town. With no way to
store this year’s harvest, Jim and Laurie Noble have thrown
open the proverbial doors to their family’s orchards, and in-
vited the community to come and pick their own apples.
In the morning hours of Nov. 8, 2018, a sparking PG&E
electrical tower near the town of Pulga ignited the nearby
landscape. A dry forest and fast winds soon spread the blaze
out of control. The only warning the residents of Paradise
had was a thick smoke plume lofting over the trees that Tues-
day morning as they readied themselves for the day ahead.
By 9 a.m., the towns of Magalia, Paradise, Concow and
the unincorporated area of Butte County known as the
Ridge were ablaze — the fire ultimately killed 86, and de-
stroyed nearly 18,800 buildings and 153,000 acres. It is the
deadliest and most expensive wildfire in California history.
The total damage of the Camp Fire — so named for the loca-
tion of that sparking electrical tower on Camp Creek Road
— was $16.5 billion. One-quarter of the damage, $4 billion,
was not insured.
The Nobles were some of the lucky ones. Though the fire
came onto their property and burned down a fair amount of
the grandfatherly ponderosa pines that line it, the majority of
their orchards — their livelihood — survived. But their home,
the cold storage building and an original building Jim No-
ble’s grandfather built in the 1930s were incinerated. Many of
their neighbors were even less fortunate. More than 90 per-
cent of the residential buildings in Paradise became ruins.
Overnight, the once-thriving mountain town was re-
duced to ghosts and ashes. But the spirit of what once made
this town thrive has survived: Businesses like Noble Or-
chards are finding a way to soldier on, and many are plan-
ning to rebuild, but there are just as many who have eyed
the challenges and decided to move on. And who can blame
them? Re-establishing Paradise’s diverse microeconomy will
not be a job for the faint of heart.
The biggest problem facing business owners is not con-
struction costs, it’s not insurance and it’s not post-traumatic
stress — it’s a lack of customers. No one knows what to do first:
Build the customer base and create a demand for business, or
rebuild the businesses and see if the customers follow?
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comstocksmag.com | November 2019
“It’s just one little baby step at a
time. How do we move forward? How do
we establish housing? In our case, we
know the cold storage is absolutely
critical to the operation, so that is
taking priority over a house.”
Laurie Noble, co-owner, Noble Orchards
THE ROCKY ROAD TO RECOVERY
“The reports of our demise are premature,” says Monica
Nolan, executive director of the Paradise Ridge Chamber of
Commerce, which supports business on the Ridge. “Business
recovery has largely been defined by those businesses that
didn’t suffer the devastating, catastrophic loss of being burnt
to the ground. Those that have (recovered) had the corporate
backing to withstand a decline in customers.”
Nolan and her team have been working nearly around the
clock since the fire to help businesses recover. For a while,
they shared offices and desks with the nearby town of Chico’s
chamber of commerce until their own building was safe for
habitation again.
“We’re providing as much support as we can to those busi-
nesses that are open, without sort of broadcasting, ‘Come up
to Paradise and open your business right now,’” Nolan says.
Laurie and Jim Noble at their orchards in Paradise
in September. PHOTO BY CARIN DORGHALLI