Recovery effort underway after wildfire in Oakhurst

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Families in Oakhurst are still picking up the pieces months after a devastating fire destroyed dozens of homes. The Courtney fire burned 320 acres mid-September.

It was this fire that destroyed 30 homes in September and two months later, the cleanup is just beginning.

Construction crews working with insurance providers are clearing out the wreckage. Many of the burned homes here are just now getting leveled.

"It's not as simple as clearing the land. A lot of them went through the debris first too. Which is very time consuming," said Kathy Thomas of Century 21 Ditton Realty. She's working with the affected families and has found rental homes for most of them while they deal with the aftermath of the fire.

"They had to do inventory with their insurance adjuster and turn in what they thought they lost. And that's really hard to do so they're all still going through that emotional experience," said Thomas.

Around Bass Lake the summer crowd has come and gone and many vacation spots like Miller's Landing have closed up shop for the season. While the summer crowd has come and gone residents here are still supporting their neighbors.

"Anything that happens to a family here we always have fundraisers and help the community," said Donna Anderson.

The clean-up and rebuild process is expected to take at least one year. One homeowner says he's still trying to decide if it's worth the money to rebuild from the ground up or just buy a home somewhere else.