This Old House

Kevin

Today on "This Old House"...

Richard

It has been one year since ashes covered this beautiful town in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

Jody

After everything we have been through together...

Richard

Yeah.

Jody

...it's a shared experience, and it's just drawn us closer.

Police radio chatter

Kevin

Paradise, California -- home to the worst wildfire in California history.

Officer

I didn't know if the rest of the world was ending, but this world that involved Paradise was ending at that time.

Kevin

Many towns would consider giving it up, but not Paradise.

Man 2

We can rebuild a house.

Sniffles

Man 2

So, that's what we're doing.

Chuckles

Woman

The town is still my home. It's where I want to live. Woman #2: Very excited. Ready to get home.

Kevin

"This Old House" joins the fight to rebuild Paradise. Hi, there. I'm Kevin O'Connor, and welcome back to "This Old House" here in Paradise, California, where we are following the rebuilding of this town after 90% of it was destroyed a year ago. It was the worst wildfire ever in California history.

Woman

Heavenly Father, please help us.

Man

Holy cow.

Dispatcher

All traffic on Pearson needs to be stopped. Woman #2: It's like a war zone.

Officer

On foot! Get out of your cars! Let's go!

Kevin

It was a horrendous day. Five firefighters went to the hospital with burns. 85 people lost their lives. And after the blaze, people here asked, "Why come back?

Why rebuild in this wilderness urban interface?" And we wondered the same thing, until we met the survivors here in Paradise.

Jody

It's hopeful. It's strong. It's encouraging. It's the people here.

That's who we are.

Lia

Resilient, strong, focused, determined.

Bret

Any starting of a community starts from the ground up, and that's whether you lose it all, or you start with just fresh dirt.

Richard

Yeah, yeah,

sure. Bret

It's the process and the motivation behind it to be a community again, and I feel it's necessary that people come together and think positive at this point, and there's a lot of good people that'll help them get there.

Doug

Paradise is a people that are just not gonna take no for an answer. They're not going to be beaten by this, and you see it happening right here today, a year later, in the comeback with rebuilding homes and restarting their businesses.

Mary

I heard one lady sum it up, and she said, "I came to Paradise because I could afford to live here, and it didn't matter what economic status you are. You are welcome, and everybody talks to you and says hi to you," and it doesn't matter where you're from, what you do. Everybody is friendly and welcomed.

Tom

This is Jose and Anna's new house. They're among hundreds who've applied for building permits, and as you can tell from the noise, things are really moving fast here. Today, it's time to start the siding, but here in Paradise, we have to meet a strict building code that says we have to fire-rate this outside wall for one-hour rating. So, Ken, what would you normally use for a siding on the exterior of the wall?

Ken

We have several options. We could do a T1-11 wood siding. We can do lap siding. We can do stucco.

Tom

Okay. But what are you using here?

Ken

We're going to use this product, right here,

which is an OSB product. Tom

Alright. So, this is a manufactured product. You can see the flakes are here.

Ken

One of the things I like about this compared to some fiber cement products -- It's longer. It's a 16-foot.

Tom

16-foot length is nice.

Ken

And the breakage on it -- if someone bumps it, it's a lot more forgiving than cement board.

Tom

Right, and these chips are manufactured. They come from an aspen tree. The big flakes are made, and then it's suspended in this drum that heats it up at a real hot temperature, and it's misted with three chemicals. There's a fungus material to keep it from rotting and termites.

There's also a product for the adhesion to keep the flakes together, and then there's a wax material to keep it dry, for water to come off of it. Then it's put in a pile and then compressed once they put the skin on the face that gives it the wood-grain look.

Ken

Yeah, and this itself is not fire-rated, so we have a fire block behind it, which creates this product to become a one-hour fire rating, once we put this behind it and also allows us our shear.

Tom

Right. So you have your shear strength. That's why you've got it stood up and nailed quite a bit on your corners and around the windows, but also, this is a fire-rated material. There's actually a coating on that.

So you can see the back side of your OSB, but if you can look right there, you can see that coating, and that gives this material the one-hour rating. I know you can get the option where you can have it coated on both sides for two-hour rating, but building code only requires one.

Ken

Yeah, and we're in a wildlife urban fire area, which is called WUI Code, and this system together creates what our WUI Code requires,

so... Tom

Right. Now, the siding doesn't go over this.

We still haven't separated -- Ken

We still have a barrier that, you know, that we have right here, that would actually come on around. So like we're doing down around --

Tom

So your air barrier, to keep air from transmitting through the building, stabilize the efficiency of the insulation.

Ken

Yeah.

Tom

They allow for expansion down here at the joint because this product could have a one-time expansion time, and then once it's expanded, it would stay in that.

Ken

Yeah, and we'll caulk that and then paint it in, so...

Tom

Yeah. Yep. Gonna be watertight when it's done.

Ken

And all our cut-ins, we primer, so...

Tom

Yep, you want to prime that rough cut, and that's pretty similar to a lot of materials. We do cedar siding and stuff like that. We back-caulk and prime all over our fresh cuts.

Ken

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tom

You don't want the water to get into there.

Ken

Yeah, yeah. It's a nice flat surface with the fire block, too, for us to be going up against, so...

Tom

And I would think the guys like it, 'cause

it's nice and light. Ken

It is. It is. By far, a lot lighter than fiber cement board.

Tom

Yeah.

Beeping

Tom

Richard

A downed power line was the apparent cause of the fire that destroyed all of Paradise. To avoid that from happening again, the power company now will turn off the grid in periods of high wind in those communities that have a high fire risk. Now, that's a great safety precaution but pretty inconvenient for the people who have to live without power. Joe and Abilene have decided to try a new technology to deal with these blackouts.

We've all seen houses with solar panels on the roof, making electricity, shipping some of it back to the grid. Oftentimes, they have a generator outside the house as a backup, but, Jared, you've got a system that's a little bit different.

Jared

Richard, I do. So we have a system up here with solar panels on the roof.

Yeah. Jared

And, you know, traditionally, we send this power back to the grid, is what we do, but in this situation,

we have three different options. Richard

Okay.

Jared

We actually can bring this power down...

Richard

To here?

Jared

...feed the home

through here. Richard

Yeah, yeah.

Jared

We also can bring the power down

to the battery-storage unit. Richard

Okay.

Jared

And we can also send the power back out to the grid.

Richard

So, this is a big beautiful battery.

Jared

It's a big beautiful battery that will run your home on the critical loads that you need.

Richard

Critical loads -- So, what are they?

Jared

Critical. So if we look critical, we're going to look at refrigerator. We're gonna look at microwave, plugs, today's day and age,

Wi-Fi. Richard

Okay.

Jared

It's almost a necessity these days.

Richard

And don't a lot of people have wells around here?

Jared

They do, especially up here, and if you lose power, you lose water.

Richard

Sure. That's right.

Jared

And this will back up most wells.

Richard

Okay. So, this will handle all the essential loads. And how long should this battery last?

Jared

I'd give them up to three days, Richard.

Richard

Good. So, tell me about some of the smarts with this system.

Jared

Let me show you, Richard. Here's where we got our app right here.

Richard

Alright. So that represents the panels on the roof.

Correct. Richard

And right now, we're coming down to the battery right there.

Jared

That's absolutely right, because we're not using any power on the home whatsoever right now. So we're just storing power in our storage unit here.

Richard

So, a regular solar system would either be going right now to the house

or back to the grid. Jared

Absolutely correct.

Richard

We're storing it, so we can use it later.

Absolutely correct. Richard

Cool. Now I hear that there's all sorts of crazy electrical rates, that when everybody is looking for that high demand in the late afternoons, the rates go to the moon.

Jared

Oh, yeah, they double. They pretty much double. It's a time-of-use rate, what it is. And that's when we're going to use this storage unit right here, to use that power you stored at a cheaper rate to power your home.

Richard

And this system is smart enough to say when the grid is now charging you too much, it'll say no to the grid, and it'll take it off

the battery. Jared

That's right. You can see we're storing right now, and that's the reason why we're storing this right now is, we're going to go ahead, and we're going to use that.

Richard

Yeah, but most people up here would probably still say, "I'll put my solar panels on the roof, ship it back to the grid, and just have a generator outside as a backup."

Jared

You know, generator is also another option, but up in our area up here,

we lose power quite a bit. Richard

Yeah.

Jared

Problem with that is, if I need fuel for my generator, typically, the gas station's probably gonna be without power, which means pumps aren't gonna to work.

Okay. Jared

And to get somebody up to refill their propane tank, if it was low, to get you through...

Richard

Propane in a fire district catches my attention, too.

It's a little scary. Richard

Alright. So, parts and pieces -- we've got the box here that takes the solar from the roof, the electricity. We go into the house here and then this big mysterious white box. Can you tell me what's inside it?

Jared

Basically, Richard, this is a bunch of little lithium-ion batteries that are wrapped through here. The unit is actually intercooled like a radiator-type system in it with multiple fans. Reason why is, this is an indoor and outdoor battery.

Got you. Jared

And we want to keep it cool, is what we want to do.

Richard

And this was developed through the electrical vehicle?

Jared

It is. It's actually being used in a bunch of vehicles that are on the road today.

Richard

So, is this thing ready to go? We ready to fire up?

Jared

Not absolutely. Not yet, Richard. We're almost there. We're just waiting to get permission to operate from the utility, and then this home is going to be self-sufficient and ready to go.

Richard

I can't wait to go plug my phone in!

That's right. Richard

Thanks for your help.

Jared

Thank you, Richard.

Kevin

Evacuations in Paradise happened with very little notice, and experts recommend that homeowners prepare for emergencies in advance by packing a go bag. It's a small kit that will have all of the essential things that you might need. We are at the home of former Paradise Fire Chief Jim Broshears to find out what's in his to-go bag. Good morning, Jim.

Good to see you.

Jim

Hey, good to see you.

Kevin

So, let's jump right into it. These things happen fast, right? I mean, really fast.

Jim

It certainly did a year ago.

Kevin

And we're talking, not hours or even a 1/2 hour. This is, like, you got 5 minutes. What do you grab?

Jim

Well, the basic go bag is what has the most essential things in it.

Kevin

Mm-hmm.

Jim

And you'll see on the top here, here's a checklist of the kind of things that...

Kevin

Alright. I'll give this a read.

Jim

...that you have in it.

Kevin

Food rations, drinking water, a survival blanket, a tent, a basic first-aid kit, rope, tape, matches, gloves, so just a little bit of everything, huh?

And that's your basic kit. Kevin

And then this one?

Jim

This one has my clothing change. This is a trick from the old days is, you can compress stuff down pretty tight using Ziploc bags or plastic bags, and then it has rain gear, some warm-weather stuff in case it gets cold, and, of course, this was a fire in November, so, you know, it was nice to have some warm clothes ready.

Kevin

That actually wouldn't have been on my list, but now that I think about it, a lot of people left in 5 minutes, and they weren't back the next day. Sadly, here, they weren't back the next week either, but you're probably going to be staying overnight somewhere.

Jim

Yeah, you're gonna -- If you don't have extra clothes, you're going to be wearing the same clothes.

Kevin

Alright. Okay. So when I grab the bag, and I leave, do you care how I leave the house, what state I leave it in?

Jim

Firefighters would like you to leave the door unlocked, leave your lights on, turn off the gas if you know how to do that properly, put a ladder to the roof, and then if there's a garden hose that can be handy for them to refill their water tank as they come in to protect your home, that would be good,

as well. Kevin

Interesting. So, these are all the things that you like people to do to help you guys, the firefighters, so that they can get into the house, so they can find stuff or, in this case, use your water

or ladder to the roof. Jim

Exactly.

Kevin

Had not thought about that either. Alright. Well, as I drove up, I noticed that, well, sadly, there are not a lot of houses around here. I presume there were.

Yours is. How come this is still here? Because you guys were surrounded by fire right in this spot.

Jim

Well, we had to have some luck, but we also tipped the scales in our favor by doing a few things. One of those things was daily maintenance during this time of year. We had red-flag warning, so my wife and I -- we had kept things clean around here.

This is what's fallen overnight. Kevin

Yep.

Jim

It's on the ground down here, and we also have a house designed where the first 5 feet does not have combustibles. We don't have plants right around our house. We don't have things that would easily ignite. Areas you do still have to be concerned about are little areas like this.

We call them the little things. Leaves accumulate, and they're problem areas. Where the wind blows leaves, the wind blows embers. So these are areas you have to look at it in your house.

Kevin

Yeah. Okay. So you have thought it through. And, as you say, you did tip the scales in your benefit.

So you guys are still here. Alright. Well, I appreciate the information. You got me thinking about what kind of bag I'm going to pack.

Alright. Kevin

Thank you, Jim.

Jim

Thank you.

Richard

It has been one year since ashes covered this beautiful town in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Today is a special day as the survivors come together to show their determination to rebuild with a ceremonial groundbreaking. This will be their memorial site here. It'll honor those who ran towards the fire to save others and those they couldn't reach.

Bagpipes play in distance

Woman

This is a landmark dedicated to the memory of the campfire, to honor those first responders and the people that perished.

Jody

This project, I think, just embodies the spirit of all of you, and it's going to be a plaza of hope. So, thank you to all of those of you who are working on this and also to the folks from "This Old House" who are helping to market the project and have also committed to contributing to it.

Cheers and applause

Jody

We were a close-knit community before. People will tell you that, but after everything we have been through together, it's a shared experience, and it's just drawn us closer.

Kevin

Days like today prove that Paradise is strong. Today, a new family, Luke and Crystal, moves into their new house on the exact spot of where their old house was. When we met them mid-way through the construction, they were excited, but nerves were still raw.

Luke

When we did decide to leave the house behind us, outside the gate was on fire, so we kind of were trying to hang out to watch -- to make sure that didn't jump to our house. Then it did later,

chuckles

Luke

so...

Kevin

When you drove up the next week or day, and you saw the town gone, did you have any second thoughts about moving back when you saw the extent of the devastation?

Crystal

No. Not one time.

Kevin

Hey, Luke, Crystal.

Kevin. Kevin

How are you guys?

Crystal

Hey!

Kevin

Exciting. Hi,

guys. Crystal

It is.

Kevin

Pulled the place together.

Luke

It's crazy.

Kevin

Does it feel good to be in?

So good. Kevin

I bet, right?

So good. Kevin

That's awesome.

Crystal

It's like home again.

Kevin

Well, it is your home, and you've come a long way, right? I mean, we were here a few months ago. It was just drywall and empty room. You said you wanted a little bar hangout area.

Looks like you pulled it off. Luke

We got it.

Kevin

You broken it in yet?

Luke

Oh, yeah.

Crystal

All the time.

All the time. Luke

Nightly.

That's good. Luke

Yeah.

Kevin

Well, maybe we'll give it a run later tonight. But how about you show me around?

Crystal

Yeah,

come one. Luke

Yeah, for sure.

Check it out. Kevin

Lead on.

Crystal

And this is our master bedroom.

Kevin

Okay. I see what you did in here, all finished and... Oh, yeah. Look at the view, huh?

Luke

Right?

Kevin

That's awesome.

Luke

A little poolside action going on.

Kevin

You got the pool. You got the patio all figured out.

Very nice. Luke

Yeah. Yeah.

Kevin

You got the coffered ceiling for good detail with the big, beefy crown molding, ceiling fan.

I like that. Luke

For the tall man.

For the tall man. Luke

Yeah.

Kevin

Master bath off of this,

as well. Crystal

Yeah. Yep, this is our master bathroom.

Kevin

Nice. Double vanity, good storage.

I like the floor. Crystal

Yep.

Kevin

And the bedroom itself with this layout, I mean, nearly identical to what you had, right?

Crystal

It is identical.

Not just nearly but identical. Kevin

Right.

Crystal

The house was built, like, a year before the fire, and we had just moved in 11 months before that. We really loved it, so we just rebuilt the same thing.

Kevin

Must have helped a lot with the schedule.

Luke

Yeah, for sure. Being that we saved the slab, the plans were mastered, I mean, we were rocking and rolling right away, so it definitely helped out that we decided to stay with the same floor plan, so...

Kevin

Makes sense as to why you guys were some of the first people in.

Alright. Luke

Yep. We love it.

Kevin

Lead on. Let's see what else you did.

Crystal

Well, one of the reasons that we bought this house and fell in love with it was because of the vaulted ceilings and how the living room opened up into the kitchen.

Kevin

Ah, big wide-open space. Looks terrific. Wall of glass, huh?

Nice view. Kevin

Yeah.

That is a great view. Luke

Yeah.

Kevin

And, Luke, you got your big man chair.

Luke

Got it. Back in action. Loving it.

Kevin

The shelves we hung for you, Crystal, still on the wall. Nothing fell, did they?

Crystal

Nothing fell.

You did good. Crystal

Nothing fell.

Laughing

Yes. Luke

We did good.

I was... Kevin

Nervous?

Crystal

...worried

at first. Kevin

Come on.

Crystal

But it made it.

Kevin

So good viewing for the big TV, and you guys had a gas fireplace in the last house, right?

Luke

Yes, we just changed the stone and went with bigger stone instead of the smaller stacked-on stone.

Kevin

That's good, and, Kristin, you've already put the floors to the test. You like them? You happy?

Crystal

I love them. Initially, I thought they were going to be too busy, but they really pull all the colors of the furniture and the decorations together.

Kevin

It's a vinyl made to look like wood.

Love it. Crystal

Yeah.

Kevin

Kitchen, this is what you guys were hoping for, right? Activity here, looking out with all the friends and family.

Yes. Kevin

Awesome.

Crystal

Exactly what I hoped for.

Kevin

You got the hood over a center stove, four burners and a griddle, and your guys' choice of materials for your countertops?

Luke

We went with granite.

Kevin

Granite, and then the backsplash is...?

Just that tile. Crystal

It's stone, actually.

Kevin

That's marble, right? Marble tile?

Crystal

I don't know if it's marble, but it's stone.

I think it is. Crystal

It's not tile.

Kevin

Looks really good. Cool. Little dining area, and we head to the back.

Crystal

Yeah, yeah, and this is our backyard. It's almost -- pretty close to finished.

Kevin

Oh, nice. Look at that.

Luke

We got the new patio furniture, little firepit, nice little covered area, and then we added the ceiling fans

for outside... Kevin

Very nice. Okay.

Luke

...did the concrete -- that was here before. Fresh sod, sprinklers, the fencing.

Kevin

Fence is back up. That's the one you were actually tearing down during the fire, right?

Luke

Blew it down, yeah. And then, yeah, the pool and the landscaping. They're going to actually put a little bridge over here to go to that little patio pad there.

Kevin

Well, it's great that you guys are back in. Much better than living in the trailer.

Crystal

Absolutely.

Kevin

And you're the first ones in, but there are other families getting in right behind you.

Luke

I love seeing it.

Kevin

Now, Jose and Anna, you guys are close, right? I mean, we've seen your foundation poured. We saw the house get framed. We saw roof shingles and siding going up.

How does it feel to...

Anna

Oh, I'm super excited. I think we all are very excited, ready to get home.

Kevin

Boys, you guys ready to get back in? Boy #1: Yeah. Boy #2: I'm ready to live in Paradise again. You ready to live in Paradise again?

Boy #2: Yeah. Thoughts on first things you do, that first day when you're back in, that first week you're back in? Have you given any that to that?

Man

I'm firing up my hot tub.

Laughter

Woman

I'm not leaving the house for a good week once we're in. I'm just going to stay there.

Kevin

Just gonna be nesting?

Woman

Yes.

Kevin

Just, like, get it all done.

Woman

Yes.

Kevin

Fellas, it's been almost a year to the day since the fire swept through this town. It's been four months since we've been coming and going. Your thoughts?

Tom

My thoughts is, I just couldn't believe it when we first came here -- the devastation as we witnessed as we drove up here -- and now, in the little bit of time that we've been here, the changes that have happened, how it has been cleaned up...

Richard

The spirit is the thing here for me.

Yeah. Richard

I mean, like, all of our homeowners are these young people that just see the future, and they look forward to it. They want to get those schools filled with kids again. You know, it's sort of -- They all want to stay. You know, and you could ask the question, why?

You know, here's a place that could have a fire again, but they're not gonna be denied.

Kevin

Terrific. Well, Crystal and Luke, we appreciate you guys hosting the party. There are so many people here who we have to thank for coming back, for helping everyone rebuild, and we are thrilled that the two of you guys are back in your house.

Luke

Thank you. So are we.

Thank you. Tom

Joe and Adaline, we were at your house today, helping out, Mark McCullough doing some stonework, and in a few short weeks, you should be back in your home.

Hopefully. Luke

It's exciting.

Tom

It's going to be great.

Richard

And, Jose and Anna and the boys, what, you got two more months? You're coming up on the outside. You're going to win the race.

Yep. Richard

Way to go.

Kevin

It has been a pleasure working with all of you and everyone who's helped out. I would like to say, from our view, at least, that Paradise is back, and Paradise is back strong. So welcome home, everybody.

Luke

Thank you.

Kevin

And we are done from Paradise, but we have got a lot more coming up next time. We've got a beautiful shingle-style home built in the 1890s up on the North Shore of Massachusetts, so we've got that coming. So until then, for all of us from Paradise, I'm Kevin O'Connor for "This Old House." Next time on "This Old House"... This is Cape Ann on Massachusetts' North Shore.

Norm

Now, this house was built in the 1890s, and after taking a good look at it, it needs some love.

Charlie

The bones in this house, actually, are in really good shape, Norm, so we have a, you know, good structure as well as a good foundation to build on.

Kevin

We're talking about coming over here with the garage and breezeway, right?

Jenn

I know. We gotta drill down and cut it away and remove it from the site.

Richard

It's five bathrooms, it's a kitchen, it's a full new mechanical. It's -- It's gonna be a biggie.