Back To Basics: Butte Fire Victims Try To Restore Normalcy To Lives
ANGELS CAMP (CBS13) – The very last evacuation orders were lifted in Calaveras County Sunday, allowing everyone back in to see the destruction.
Evacuees are now faced with the new struggle of starting over.
"I lived up there for 28 years. That little green pick up back there, that's all I got," evacuee Joe Thomas said.
Thomas just returned to the evacuation center in Angels Camp, only to realize he doesn't have a basic service often taken for granted: a place to wash his clothes.
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"We had to go. There's no laundromats up here. My wife went all the way to Jackson," Thomas said.
Rex Whittle, one of many volunteers at the evacuation center, got his brother to donate two washing machines.
"[When people camp out this long] it starts to get a little stinky," Whittle said.
Evacuees have started a new social media campaign asking a laundry detergent company to send a mobile laundromat.
"I'm amazed. The volunteers. The support. I mean, I give them a 10," Thomas said.
Volunteers are expecting to see hundreds more come back to evacuation camps all over Calaveras and Amador counties.
"Phase one is coming to an end. Phase two is starting or has started again, once people find out what they have and what they have lost," said volunteer Jessica Cassidy.
Until they rebuild, the lot near the fairgrounds with trailers, tents, and countless porta potties, is their home.
"The great thing is that we will – like the phoenix out of the ashes – rise again," evacuee Dave said.