Gann Fire survivors begin road to recovery as state resources move in

Weeks after the Gann Fire destroyed homes and upended lives in a small Calaveras County community, survivors are beginning to look toward what comes next.

"It is going to be quite a road to recovery just with the things lost," said CJ Poloka, who lost his home in the fire.

Poloka and his wife had only moved to the area six weeks before the fire.

"At the end of the day, we made it out alive. We are still missing a few animals, but we're hopeful," Poloka said.

That hope is helping drive the community forward.

Guy and Eileen Andress also lost their home, a property that had been in Guy's family for decades.

"My dad bought the property in 1968, and we moved up here permanently in 1976, and we dug our way in," Guy Andress said.

Now, the family is starting over.

The Andresses have secured the first temporary housing permit and hope to have a prefabricated home on the property by Christmas. For now, they are living in a trailer that was recently donated to them.

Through it all, neighbors and community members have stepped up to help.

"That's a community when you have each other's backs," Eileen Andress said.

State resources are also moving in to help with the recovery.

Local and state agencies have laid out plans for the first phase of waste cleanup, with work expected to begin Tuesday.

Crews will also assess the Gann Fire burn scar for potential watershed concerns as officials work to identify areas that may need additional mitigation.

For the Andresses, recovery means accepting that life may never look the way it did before the fire, while still believing something new can grow from the loss.

"From the ashes, like the phoenix, right? It can't ever be what it was, but it can be something else," Guy Andress said.

And signs of that new beginning are already appearing.

Flowers are beginning to bloom again amid the burned land, a small but powerful reminder of the hope keeping this community moving forward.