Pulga, the town at Camp Fire's ground zero, is still recovering a year later (2024)

Pulga, the town at Camp Fire's ground zero, is still recovering a year later (1)

The past year hasbeen a bit of a struggle for Betsy Ann Cowley.

On Nov. 8, 2018, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. electrical transmission lines ignited the Camp Fire, putting Pulga, the tiny droplet of a town she owns in eastern Butte County, at ground zero for the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history.

While most of the buildings in the town proper were spared, Cowley's home, her friend's house and 12 guest cabanas were destroyed in the blaze.

A few months after the fire ripped through Paradise, killing 85 people and destroying nearly 19,000 buildings, Cowley's father was struck down by cancer.

During the winter, landslides and rockslides constantlythreatened the historicl*ttle towntucked into a fold in the hills of the Feather River canyon.

Also during the past year, the area was "invaded" by dozens of PG&E and state workers repairing the nearby transmission lines, she said.

Cowley makes her living by renting out the little town for corporate retreats, weddings and other group events. But with damage from the fire, and so much work going on in the area, her business has suffered since fire.

"There's no way I could have taken bookings until right now," Cowley said, sitting in the old Pulga school building that she used in September for a women's retreat.

"It's just been a hard year," she said.

The year of destruction wasn'twhat she had envisioned when she bought the town and surrounding 64 acres in 2015, becoming the third owner of Pulga since it was established in the late 1800s.

She had been living in Somerset, a small town in the Sierra foothills east of Sacramento. Cowley said she had grown tired of all the fires threatening the town, so she went in search of a place that had plenty of water and where she could feel safe from wildfires.

"There was just like so many fires, and then there's the drought," which was in full swingback in 2015 when she bought the acreage Pulga sits on.

Pulga is 'a labor of love'

Pulga, which means "flea" in Spanish, traces its roots to the development of the railroad and mining along the Feather River. Like most mining and railroad towns, Pulga went through its boom and bust periods.

The history of Pulga came in waves, said Larry Mauch, a historian for the Yankee Hill Historical Society, and a member of the Butte County Historical Society board of directors.

First there was mining in the Feather River canyon, then the railroad was built in the canyon. For a while, Pulga was used as a resort. Then Highway 70 was punched through the canyon and PG&E built hydropower facilities on the river.

The town once boasted stores, a post office, saloons and even a hospital for the hundreds of peoplethat worked in the area, Mauch said. Numerous old buildings still remain in the town, including the school that was rebuilt after the first one burned down.

The town had fallen into disrepair before Cowley purchased it. Herfriends helped her rebuild the place then, adding an artistic flair. Now they're doing it again, she said.

Pulga, the town at Camp Fire's ground zero, is still recovering a year later (2)

Cabanas with queen-sized beds and mosquito netting line the road into downtown, chairs are painted in bright primary colors and old-style decorative lights line the fences along Pulga Road.

One of Cowley's friends painted alarge king snake with monarch butterfly wings on an outside wallof the school, and inside the building the walls have been decoratively paneled with reclaimed wood.

"It's definitely been a labor of love," she said.

Pulga's colorful history

Like most Old West mining towns, Pulga has its colorful history. Ernie Reynolds was born in Pulga and lived there until he was 13-years old.

"It was pretty neat living there. We got our snow every year," the 89-year-old Reynolds said.

Pulga, the town at Camp Fire's ground zero, is still recovering a year later (3)

It was also in Pulga that at the age of 13 he witnessed his first and only homicide.

It was in front of the store where Reynolds worked that Joe Shallot shot big Jim Nesbitt, he said.

Nesbitt had been drinking and he was itching to put a beating on someone, Reynolds said. Unfortunately, Shallot was his intended victim.

At 6-feet, 6-inches tall and weighing about 330 pounds, Nesbitt wasn't someone to be fooled with, Reynolds said.

But Shallot "was a little guy with a big gun" and so he shot and killed Nesbitt, he said. Shallot was justified in shooting him, he said.

"Jim would have killed him," Reynolds said.

He said he went back to Pulga "a year or so ago" and the building that housed the store where he worked as a boy was still standing, he said.

'I could lose the entire town'

Pulga, the town at Camp Fire's ground zero, is still recovering a year later (4)

While Reynolds has remarkable memories of Pulga, Cowley's memories of last year's Camp Fire are not as pleasant.

And as winter comes on, she worries about more landslides being caused by rains washing down the hillsides that were burned barren by the fire.

She said so many trees were removed from the surrounding hillsides that she worries about massive debris flows.

"Which is like, wow, I could lose the entire town," Cowley said.

"We're in for quite the winter. There's just nothing holding the ground together," she said. "But I believe in Pulga and the magic that this place has."

Damon Arthur is the Record Searchlight’s resources and environmentreporter. He is among the first on the scene at breaking news incidents, reporting real time on Twitter at@damonarthur_RS. Damon is part of a dedicated team of journalists who investigate wrongdoing and find the unheard voices to tell the stories of the North State. He welcomes story tips at 530-225-8226 and damon.arthur@redding.com. Help local journalism thrive bysubscribing today!

Pulga, the town at Camp Fire's ground zero, is still recovering a year later (2024)
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