One month after the devastating Camp Fire destroyed thousands of homes in Butte County, a handful of families have found new homes.
A local developer decided to sell only to Camp Fire victims.
The race is on at a Chico subdivision to get new houses built quickly.
"We’re going to get the slabs down by next week then going to go vertical as soon possible," builder Chuck Tatreau said.
As soon as the Camp Fire hit, Tatreau pledged to only sell the homes to Camp Fire survivors. He even lowered the price of some so families could qualify. And the houses went fast.
"Twenty-one houses in 32 hours. Gone," he said.
Zee Saylors and her family are among the first to move in. They were in and out of escrow in one day.
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"It was an absolute Christmas story, just a Christmas gift is what it felt like for our family," Saylors said.
The family of six barely escaped from their Paradise home. They didn’t have time to grab any belongings.
"It was an ordeal,' Saylors said. "My 16-year-old son sat next to me and cried because we had to sit at Neal Road and watch as our house burned up."
After spending two weeks cramped in one hotel room, the Saylors family got a new place of their own to start over, filled with donated furniture and even a Christmas tree.
"To have kids and feel Christmas can still happen for our family, we can still have that experience, it’s overwhelming, absolutely overwhelming," Saylors said.
Tatreau hopes to have the rest of the houses built in six months, and he appears to be on pace. Once everyone moves in, he’ll throw a catered welcome party for the new neighborhood.
