22,500 homes lost. Over five years later, only 38% rebuilt: What California fire survivors face

"In fall 2017, Piccin and his wife lost their ranch house when the Tubbs fire roared through Northern California's famed wine region. Contractors found themselves in high demand and overbooked, and the one the couple hired abandoned the project halfway through. In the time it took to find a new builder, the price tag rose by a third to $2.4 million, forcing the Piccins to sell a rental property they owned to pay the bill."

""Financially, what we've done doesn't make sense," said Piccin, 66, standing this summer amid cardboard delivery boxes and stray cabinet drawers in his future kitchen. "But emotionally, psychologically, it is a mandate. We need to have this done to be able to close a chapter and turn the page." Over the last eight years, wildfires have burned down more houses than at any other time in California history."

François Piccin lost his ranch house in the 2017 Tubbs fire and faces an unfinished home after contractors abandoned the project and costs surged. A replacement-builder delay increased reconstruction costs by a third to $2.4 million, forcing the Piccins to sell a rental property to pay contractors. The couple remains emotionally driven to complete the house despite financial strain. From 2017 to 2020, nearly 22,500 homes were destroyed in five major California wildfires, and only 8,400 — 38% — had been rebuilt as of April. Survivors commonly encounter inadequate insurance payouts, soaring construction costs, regulatory delays and personal disruptions that impede recovery.

Read at Los Angeles Times