(TNS) — More than any other Northern California community, Chico has opened its arms to Camp Fire survivors from nearby Paradise.

An estimated 10,000 to 20,000 evacuees have crowded into Chico following the deadliest wildfire in California history, swelling the population by at least 10 percent in a city that was already laboring under a housing shortage. Survivors are taking relatives' spare bedrooms and sleeping in campers in friends' backyards, while their children now attend school in Chico's churches and community centers — and even in a vacant spot in the city's main shopping mall.

"Everyone in Chico has done what they can for the people of Paradise and Magalia. We've all been involved one way or the other, either housing people or working at providing meals," said Janet Ellner, a resident of the Barber Yard neighborhood in south Chico. "Everybody's very compassionate about the situation."

Lately, though, Chico has pushed back on shouldering some of the burdens of Paradise's recovery.

A proposal by state and federal officials to open a temporary scrapyard next to Barber Yard, to process truckloads of metal and concrete rubble from Paradise, was abandoned this week after Ellner and other residents unleashed a volley of protests about noise, traffic and potential environmental hazards. Every member of the Chico City Council objected, too, although the council didn't have the authority to block the idea.

Read more