Park Fire evacuee families promise to rebuild after losing everything

CHICO, Calif. - Families are beginning to return home where evacuation orders are slowly being lifted in neighborhoods hit hard by the Park Fire near Chico.

Charred appliances collapsed by intense heat are among the few recognizable signs of where a home once stood.

"Shock and awe, and we just can’t believe it," said Tamara Ferguson, after her family home in the mountain community of Cohasset was gutted by the record-setting Park Fire, now the fifth-largest wildfire in California history.

"Seems unreal, like somebody’s going to pinch you and tell you that it’s going to be there," said Tamara, referring to the home where she and her husband Jason would raise their kids and make countless memories.

Within two days of evacuating, their house would burn to the ground.

"It’s just shock, you know, it’s just unbelievable," said Jason, "Worst nightmare come true."

Making matters worse: no homeowner’s insurance on their $300,000 home.

"No, the insurance premiums up there, with the Camp Fire and all the other fires that have been happening, got so high that we just couldn’t afford insurance."

Just around the corner, John McClaskey is in the same boat.

"I just lost everything I got, again," said McClaskey, "I just gotta rebuild again."

After losing two homes to a wildfire in 1999, the Park Fire took two more from him, yet he’s determined to start over.

"It’s quiet and peaceful, and you know I’m at the end of the road, so nobody bothers me,"

As PG&E crews work to restore fallen power lines ahead of evacuation orders being lifted, these homeowners are staying with family while they and their neighbors figure out how to bounce back.

"Just one more hurdle that, you know, that was thrown at us," said Jason. "So, you can either dwell about it, and you know, be sad, or you can just keep moving forward."

The Park Fire claimed more than 300 homes in Butte County alone, and as of Thursday had burned more than 392,000 acres.