PLUMAS COUNTY, Calif. — Five years after the devastating Dixie Fire destroyed nearly one million acres and incinerated more than 1,300 structures across Northern California, survivors are facing a harsh new reality: build a permanent home immediately or get off their land.
An emergency ordinance in Plumas County that allowed displaced residents to live in temporary RVs and trailers on their fire-damaged properties has officially expired after county supervisors declined to extend it.
For survivors like Adam Wangsgard, whose hometown of Greenville was largely wiped out in the 2021 blaze, the decision turns an ongoing recovery process into an impossible ultimatum.
“It doesn’t seem like it was a long time ago, but we still feel it, you know?” said Wangsgard, who has lived in a trailer on his property for the past five years. “Just to go through what we went through, it doesn’t disappear just like that. Staying in the trailer, it’s like if you have no other choice.”
