Doug Sloan remembers the silence.
After California's deadliest and most destructive wildfire raced through the Sierra Nevada foothills one year ago, all but destroying his hometown, everything went silent. No birds chirped. No car engines roared. No tree leaves rustled in the wind.
While evidence of the Camp Fire remains in the charred and blackened trees that dot the landscape, in the rubble of buildings not yet cleared and in store signs that lead to empty parking lots, residents and officials say they are working hard to rebuild this rural community 170 miles northeast of San Francisco.
Nearly all the debris from the fire has been cleared from Paradise, which once had a population of 26,000, and the amount of debris hauled away is said to be the equivalent of four Golden Gate Bridges.