OROVILLE >> Ground once black with ash and char has regrown, covering Oroville hillsides with green flora and now, once again, yellow.

The year since the Thompson Fire burned 3,789 acres in north Oroville has seen cleanup and aid, but not without significant complications. Though its footprint was smaller than some other local fires, such as the Park Fire, which totaled 429,603 acres, the Thompson Fire ravaged through neighborhoods, burning houses and other structures along the way. Even some homes that practiced strong defensible space caught stray embers that ultimately torched them.

However, as is the case with all local fires, the aftermath was marked by accumulated overtime hours for firefighters and Butte County staff, along with uncertainty for those affected — and no easy answers.

Cal Fire-Butte County Public Information Officer Rick Carhart, with information provided by Assistant Chief Purvis, said the blaze began on the tail of a long heatwave combined with dry conditions, creating a ticking time bomb believed to have been set off by a stray firework.

“The fuel bed at the fire’s origin was mostly grass and brush that was extremely receptive to burning and heavy spotting of flying embers led to very fast fire growth,” Carhart said. “Aircraft were at the scene quickly and began working, but embers continued to spot across their retardant drops.”

Shortly after the fire began on July 2, 2024, the blaze could be seen quickly moving along the ridge of Table Mountain. Resident gazed upon it as the fire moved past Oroville’s signiture painted O overlooking the city.

At the other end of the fire, flames began to close in on the Oroville Dam spillway and eventually an ember jumped the Diversion Pool, allowing the fire to spread to nearby neighborhoods.

“By the first night, a drop in the wind allowed firefighters to mitigate the direct threat to Kelly Ridge and the Oroville city limits, but a number of structures, including residences, were destroyed,” Carhart said.

The geography of the fire, which moved along steep hillsides and up ravines dense with fire fuels, also created its share of difficulties for firefighters on the ground. What helped, Carhart said, was the push at the county level to get homeowners involved in protecting their properties.

“The 2024 Thompson Fire is an example of how quickly a wildfire can ignite, spread and move into a heavily populated area, causing significant damage,” Carhart said. “It also showed how the adoption of Butte County Ordinance Chapter 38A, the Fire Prevention and Protection Ordinance contributed to the success of structures saved due to the work homeowners did creating defensible space and firebreaks.”

Recovery efforts

Cleaning up and recovering from the Thompson Fire has in no way been a linear or quick process.

In total, 29 parcels burned in the Thompson Fire but the county has received and approved only one permit to rebuild in the burn scar, said Butte County Public Information Officer Kristi Olio.

Olio, who has been on the front lines of recovery efforts for recent local fires, said 17 of the parcels had debris on the property that needed to be removed. An additional 12 properties only had trees, typically hazardous trees that also required removal. Structures that burned had to meet a threshold of 120 square feet or more for the owner to be required to enroll in a debris removal program, either through the state or an alternative program in which the owner handled their own removal through private contractors.

“Those properties that enrolled in the state program are almost 100% complete,” Olio said. “Debris removal is 100% complete, but there are two parcels left with trees that the state still needs to remove.”

Of the three properties enrolled in the alternative program, two have reached completion.

“Recovering in general takes a really long time,” Olio said. “Especially now. We’re one year past the start date of the fire and we are not even complete with debris removal so you have to go through every step of the process to get to the place where you can rebuild. I’m not sure what that looks like for people or what they’re going to choose to do moving forward.”

Complications

Both the Thompson and Park fires came with a unique set of challenges in that both state and federal aid took much longer than with previous disasters. And when that aid did come, it was limited to only debris removal.

“There was a major delay in getting approval for a government-sponsored Debris Removal Program,” Olio said. “So the hardest part for us as the county was talking with these survivors and not really having a clear answer yet as to what the path forward looked like. It was just ‘please don’t disturb your ash footprint, sit tight and wait.’ We didn’t want them to start messing with their debris and potentially affect their ability to qualify for the state program.”

The county and the Board of Supervisors made multiple requests for help, often to no avail.

“We asked; we were denied,” Olio said. “We asked again; we were denied. And ultimately, the state ended up just approving (Private Property Debris Removal) but the other assistance programs that we applied for, like public assistance, individual assistance, those were denied.”

The lack of services from the state or FEMA often left survivors with few options outside of the ability to get lots cleaned. Most had to rely solely on insurance money, assuming they had fire insurance for their properties.

“It was really disheartening,” Olio said. “And it’s sad knowing that there are resources out there that are available and we were just not approved for them.”

Court case

The investigation lasted almost two months before law enforcement with Cal Fire-Butte County were finally able to name a suspect.

It was announced earlier that the fire was started by a Safe and Sane-labeled firework in the area of Thompson Flat Road, hence the name of the blaze, but detectives had to spend a significant amount of time tracking the suspect: then 26-year-old Spencer Grant Anderson, of Oroville.

Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said Anderson’s next trial date is coming up on Aug. 25. Anderson pleaded not guilty to the charge of arson of an inhabited structure or property with enhancements for the many structures destroyed.

“This is one in which he was surveilled and trailed, and they were putting together quite the case and brought in a number of their arson investigators from around the state to put surveillance on him 24-seven for several weeks,” Ramsey said. “They were trying to show that this was the guy by following him around, getting his daily routines and seeing he was in the area. The running around corresponded with the car that was the suspect car from the beginning.”

Ramsey said Anderson initially provided a statement that he had purchased the Safe and Sane fireworks that morning before taking them up Cherokee Road to test one.