
Greenville resident John Hamar in front of the home he lost during the Dixie Fire. Photograph by Joanne Burgueño.
Editor’s note: Permission was granted by the creators of the Dixie Fire Stories Facebook page to share in this post a compilation of their published photos, excerpted stories, interviews and quotes.
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After the acrid smoke finally settled from the Dixie Fire’s massive destruction, Plumas County residents Joanne Burgueño and Sara Gray joined forces to turn their grief and frustration over their community’s losses into a creative venture to share residents’ stories.

From left, Sara Gray and Joanne Burgueño, creators of the Dixie Fire Stories project. Photograph courtesy of Joanne Burgueño.
The Dixie Fire impacted thousands of people in the numerous counties that lay in the path of the unrelenting inferno. Burgueño and Gray’s online collaboration collects and shares fire survivors’ stories through the operation of a Facebook and Instagram page known as Dixie Fire Stories.
Burgueño grew up in Phoenix, Ariz., and moved to Plumas County 20 years ago when she was 20. She thought California was filled with beaches and sunny weather, and freaked out when she experienced her first snowstorm high in the mountains above the Sacramento Valley. Burgueño, who raised two children in Quincy, came to love small-town life in Plumas County. She, like other Greenville-area residents, appreciates the way so many people in the community cared for one another, Burgueño now runs her own photography company, Poetic Camera Photography, but she previously worked for the Forest Service as a first responder for the Quincy Volunteer Fire Department. Many of her breathtaking photographs, some of which are shared in this article, are featured on the Dixie Fire Stores Facebook page.
Dixie Fire Stories is a politics-free platform because Burgueño and Gray want survivors to be able to safely share their stories without having to worry about getting involved with partisan arguments.
Dixie Fire Stories is an ongoing project for Burgueño and Gray, and they are accomplishing a great deal of work for a two-person team who have other obligations. Most of the personal accounts on the Facebook page came from people who live in the Indian Falls and Greenville area, but Burgueño and Gray have plans to also interview individuals in Canyon Dam, a community on the southern end of Lake Almanor, and other places impacted by the fire. Ultimately, they’d like to turn the project into book.
The Dixie Fire

Road sign near Greenville. Photograph by Jeff Dupras.
The Dixie Fire, which burned through parts of Butte, Plumas, Lassen, Tehama, and Shasta counties between October 25 and July 13, is the largest single source wildfire in California history. The fire burned more than 963,000 acres before it was fully contained — an area twice the size of Los Angeles — and it destroyed more than 1,300 structures and forced thousands of people to flee their homes and evacuate.
The fire took one life. Three firefighters received non-fatal injuries. The utility company Pacific Gas & Electric is under investigation due to the possibility that the fire may have been started by electrical equipment in the same network that started the 2018 Camp Fire.
Smoke from the Dixie Fire created unhealthy air conditions across the American West, and it, along with other recent fires, serves as a stark reminder of the climate crisis. Among the 10 largest recorded fires in California history, eight have occurred since 2017. The three largest fires, the August Complex, Dixie, and Mendocino Complex Fires, burned nearly 2.5 million acres in Northern California alone between 2018 and 2021.
The Dixie Fire ravaged several small towns. Greenville, a town with a few thousand residents before the fire, located on California State Route 89 southeast of Lake Almanor, was nearly completely leveled by the fire.
John Hamar of Greenville

John Hamer standing in front of the place where his home once stood. Photograph by Joanne Burgueño.
John Hamar has lived in Greenville for around 40 years. The retired Greenville resident, who has background in construction, but is no longer able to work in that occupation, lost everything but his truck and a few changes of clothes in the fire. He has no family support to speak of.

John Hamar surveys the remnants of his home after the fire. Photograph by Joanne Burgueño.
Hamar, who describes himself as a “simple fella,” states that life has only gotten more difficult since he retired. He spent his younger years in the Reno area. “It’s a real impersonal kind of place,” he said. “Especially Reno; the gambling, the money, and the 24-hours-a-day thing. It’s not something I missed.”
Hamar described Greenville as a typical small town, where residents know everyone. He has owned his pickup truck for more than 20 years. “I’ve never taken the key out of the ignition because that kind of thing just doesn’t happen here,” he said. He described Greenville as home to “mostly pretty decent, good, down-to-earth people.”
Hamar said that Greenville took a hit when logging and mining disappeared, and said it’s tough to make a living these days. Despite the hardships he faces, he described Greenville as a great place to retire.
After helping a few friends evacuate to Westwood, a small town east of Lake Almanor on California State Route 36, Hamar returned home only to be evacuated yet again.
“I looked out of my back window, and the entire hillside was on fire. Part of the town was on fire. And there was a thousand-foot-high fire tornado over this town. And I knew then that I didn’t have any time to repack the stuff that I had replaced. I just got my truck and made it out of here as quick as I could.”
Hamar returned to Westwood, which shortly thereafter was also evacuated. He then traveled to Susanville. He claims that an emergency agency – likely the Red Cross – announced that all residents from Plumas County needed to leave Lassen County and go back to where they came from. With than, he got in his truck and left Susanville.
Hamar ended up in Reno with some friends who had family there, but he did not stay long. At the start of November, he had resorted to camping at a closed campground.
“I’m not supposed to be there,” Hamar said. “I really don’t care. If they don’t want me there that bad they can come out and tell me to leave. And then whether I do or not, that’s another story.”
Hamar is still not sure where he will end up this winter, but he knows he will not survive by camping in the frigid temperatures to come. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is reportedly trying to help him obtain housing.
‘I feel more like a refugee than an evacuee’
They say, “Oh, you’re an evacuee,” said Hamar. “No. I feel more like a refugee than an evacuee. I’ve been evacuated three times and was thrown out of a town. It’s almost like a war zone. You’re going from place to place just so you can find a mouthful of food or something to drink.”
Still, Hamar believes that the disaster in Greenville brought out the best in people as everyone is willing to help one another.
“I feel bad for people that lost more than I did,” he said. “You know, I came out with something to drive and clothes on my back. Some people may not even have that.”
Riley’s Jerky
Kaley Bentz was born in Quincy in 1981. Like so many other small-town rural Northern Californians, he left home to attend college. After earning a master’s degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Bentz bounced around to a few jobs.
In 2016, he and his family moved back to Greenville to buy and operate his family’s business, Riley’s Jerky.

Kaley Bentz and his family making jerky.
“Small towns breed a unique group of individuals,” Bentz said. “A very resilient tight knit group of people. As a kid you want to get out of here. But the grass ain’t always greener, and you can’t wait to get back. Growing up here you find out what it’s like to live here, and once you hit a certain point in your life you just want to get back.”
Bentz’s grandfather started Riley’s Jerky in 1980. The jerky produced by the company was sold in all 50 states, that is, until the Dixie Fire took the business.

Riley’s Jerky before and during the Dixie Fire. Photograph on top by Joanne Burgueño.
Although Bentz and his family did not lose their home to the fire, they have plans to rebuild their business taken by the Dixie Fire. A friend of Bentz’s set up a GoFundMe page to help the family rebuild Riley’s Jerky.
After recently purchasing 12 acres east of Greenville on Highway 89, Bentz and his family are planning to construct a 5,000-square foot facility capable of processing more than 4,000 pounds of jerky each day, He hopes the facility will open in the spring of 2022, and anticipates that it will create 10-12 jobs.
Dannielle Guerra and Jennifer Gonzales
Dannielle Guerra moved to Greenville from Las Vegas six years ago to manage the Sierra Lodge, a historic downtown hotel that was lost in the Dixie Fire.
Jennifer Gonzalez also moved to Greenville from Las Vegas to be closer to her ailing dad, a resident of Plumas County for 20 years.

Dannielle Guerra and Jennifer Gonzalez standing in what is left of the Sierra Lodge. Photograph by Joanne Burgueño.
Guerra and Gonzales found the town to be foreign at first because of its small-town vibe, but it grew on them.
“It’s a small-town community,” Gonzalez said. “Nosy and in your business is good out here. It really is. They protect their people and are on your side and I like it. I love the community I live in now. I do.”
Guerra and Gonzalez barely escaped the flames when they evacuated.
“The only thing about this that is good for me, that I’m happy about, is I’m getting a better paying job,” Guerra said in a Nov. 25 interview. “I probably would have stayed here forever, no benefits, no nothing, just because I thought that’s the way everything runs out here.”
Auston Linford and the house that he and his father built
Auston Linford has lived in Plumas County his entire life. His dad moved there from the Bay Area in the 1970s, met his mother, and fell in love.
Linford was born at a house in Twain, west of Greenville on Highway 70, that has since been lost to fire. In 1985, his dad started building a home in Indian Falls, a small community on the highway between Greenville and Twain.
Linford’s dad was not a contractor, but he did have experience working in construction. “I was 8 years old at the time, and he taught me and my brother how to build. We were pounding on nails and putting all the roofing on.”
After graduating from Quincy High School, Linford moved to Taylorsville and started a family with his former wife. He resided in Taylorville for a few years, sharing custody of his three children, before reconnecting with and marrying a childhood friend named Bobbie.
Bobbie and Auston then had two children, both born at the Indian Falls home that he, his brother and father built.

Auston Linford and Bobbie Elizabeth Stoy-Linford and their children.
The Linfords were sure they had lost their home in the Dixie Fire, but to their surprise, it was spared, and they did not lose as much as a single chicken.
“In the four years we’ve been here we’ve done a ton of forest thinning,” Auston said. “I feel that is one of the big reasons we’re still here; in this house.”

The home Auston Linford and his brother built with their father.
Eva and Mike Gorman of Greenville
After traveling up and down the West Coast in a 42-foot boat for more than 20 years, Eva and her husband Mike put down roots in Greenville. Originally from the Bay Area, they had been visiting Plumas County on family trips since the 1990s and fell in the love with the area.
The Gormans eventually decided to sell their boat and move into their home on a permanent basis.

Eva and Mike Gorman’s home before the Dixie Fire.
Eva owns Josefina Fine Knits, a company that sells a wide range of handmade garments. The business, which also has a Facebook page, is named after her grandmother.
“My Grandmother, Josefina Davalos, taught me how to knit when I was little,” explained Gorman on her businesses website. “I would lie on her couch, with knitting needles in hand and ‘tie knots’ as my husband now calls it. ‘Patience, mi hija, patience’ she would say to me in her strong Mexican accent.”
The Gormans lost nearly all of their possessions in the fire, including their home and Eva’s retail space in downtown Greenville. When she found the cross from her grandmother’s rosary where their home once stood, she finally broke down and cried.

The cross from Eva Gorman’s grandmothers rosary found where her home once stood. Photograph by Joanne Burgueño.
A friend organized a GoFundMe page for the Gormans and people from across the county have sent yarn, knitting needles, and other items to help her restart the business.

Eva Gorman standing in front of what was left of her home after the Dixie Fire. Photograph by Joanne Burgueño.

Eva and Mike Gorman sitting in front of what was left of their home after the Dixie Fire. Photograph by Eva Gorman.

Mural painted by artist Shane Grammar. Photograph by Joanne Burgueño.
John Banks Sr.
Like so many others, John Banks Sr. also came to Plumas County from somewhere else. He moved to Greenville from Tulare County 20 years ago. Banks, a military veteran, has worked for the county and ran his own business, a DUI school; he has custody of his 3-year-old great-granddaughter and 10-year old great grandson.
Banks Sr., who had heart surgery a few years ago, also sat on the board of the local museum that was lost to the fire. He’s the president of the local Rotary Club.

John Banks Sr. standing in his home.
When Banks Sr. started his county job, he was invited to attend a dinner with his new colleagues. When his wife got into the car at their home to drive and meet him for the dinner, it would not start due to a dead battery. Their neighbor, who they did not even know yet, graciously offered to take the battery from his car and place it into Banks Sr.’s wife’s car.
“That doesn’t happen in Los Angeles, or Sacramento!” Banks Sr. said. “They’ll steal your battery.”
As one Christmas approached, Banks Sr., had no plans to get a Christmas tree. “And then one day one magically appears in my front yard. The community just was, it was different. I just felt accepted by everybody. I’ve never been in a place that had that happen. So it was kind of a unique experience for me.”
Banks Sr. and his wife spent 12 days in Reno during the first evacuation of Greenville. When they returned, like John Hamar, they were evacuated a second time.
Then, the fire took their home. “The only thing I had that survived the fire was my truck,” Banks Sr. said. “I parked it across the street from the high school. Because I thought, well they’re gonna protect the school because that’s a state building. My truck survived the fire. And that was the only thing other than the Dollar General that survived.”

What was left on John Banks Sr.’s home after the Dixie Fire. Photograph by Joanne Burgueño.

The Dollar General across the street from John Banks Sr.’s home after the Dixie Fire. Photograph by Joanne Burgueño.
When Banks Sr. returned to Greenville for the first time, he got lost because there were no landmarks. In August, the Rotary Club created a GoFundMe page under his name which has collected over $30,000. Banks Sr., has been working to distribute the money to families that lost their home.
Thanks to Banks Sr., on Veteran’s Day some of Greenville’s old spirit returned. He, along with the Indian Valley American Legion, organized a parade. People showed up to not only honor veterans, but also the town which lay in ruins.
At one point during the Veteran’s Day events, Banks Sr., posed with his fellow American Legion members in front of where they once met. The building was uninsured because of the cost of insurance but there are plans to rebuild it nonetheless. Many in the group standing in front of the burned-out building have seen plenty of battles. Who would have thought they would be in store for the battle of their lives in this small and peaceful mountain town in Northern California?

Banks Sr. and others standing in front of what was once the American Legion building. Photograph by Joanne Burgueño.
The sense of community in accounts collected by Dixie Fire Stories is striking. Residents, some of whom have lost nearly all of their material possessions, want to stay and remain a part of Greenville and the surrounding area. The accounts featured on the Dixie Fire Stories pages deal with displacement, loss, and resiliency in a part of California that, if Burgueño and Gray get their way, will not be ignored.
Gray expressed hope that the Dixie Fire is not forgotten; regarded later as another blip on the evening news, but instead that the stories shared online will be a catalyst for inspiration and change. Burgueño agrees.
“When I first thought of this idea, I just wanted to get these stories heard,” Burgueño said.
“I felt that we needed to show that there was a human side to this fire and Greenville isn’t just a story in the newspaper or on the internet. Greenville is a town full of people who were absolutely devastated by this fire.”
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Note: Special thanks to Joanne Burgueño and Sara Gray of the Facebook group page Dixie Fire Stories for allowing the accounts they have accumulated to be shared in this story. Special thanks as well to Joanne Burgueño for allowing her photographs to be used, and for seeking permission for the usage of photographs she did not take. Lastly, special thanks to the Dixie Fire survivors who allowed their stories of resilience to be shared here on A News Cafe.