PARADISE, Calif. (AP) — California officials say crews have finished removing millions of tons of debris left by a Northern California wildfire that killed 85 people and virtually annihilated a town.
The Camp Fire a year ago was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in state history.
The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services announced Tuesday that state and federal agencies removed some 3.7 million tons of ash, metal, concrete and contaminated soil from 11,000 properties in Butte County, where the blaze nearly wiped out the town of Paradise.
That tonnage is twice the amount removed from the World Trade Center site after the 9/11 attacks.
The work took nine months.
Survivors were offered cleanups at no cost except for insurance reimbursements.
Debris remains on several hundred properties whose owners chose to use private contractors.
